How Obama became the queen’s ‘favourite US president’: Barack and daughters Malia and Sasha were once invited to a secret tea with Queen Elizabeth in London ... he also gifted her an iPod

Sep 20 , 2022

Queen Elizabeth and Barack Obama shared a special friendship. Photos: AFP, AP

Their friendship extended beyond diplomatic duties after they met for the first time with Prince Philip in 2009 during Barack’s presidency while he was in the UK for the G20 summit

The queen once invited Barack, his mum-in-law and his daughters Malia and Sasha for an unexpected tea at the London palace, but wasn’t afraid to tell guests when it was ‘time to go’

In her 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth met 13 US presidents, according to The Guardian. But there was one that she seems to have taken a special shine to.

In his book Kensington Palace: An Intimate Memoir from Queen Mary to Meghan Markle, author Tom Quinn wrote, “After meeting Barack Obama who she completely fell in love with – she has frequently asked her courtiers if they could arrange for him to come to Britain now he is no longer president.”

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh greet then US President Barack Obama after he and his wife Michelle arrived by helicopter outside Windsor Castle, west of London, in April 2016. Photo: AFP

Over their eight years spent in the White House, Barack and Michelle Obama visited Buckingham Palace three times.

The pair got off to a great start when Barack gave the queen a gift when he met her for the first time in April 2009, when he touched down in the UK for the G20 summit, per The Guardian.

Queen Elizabeth stands with then president and first lady of the United States Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, along with the Duke of Edinburgh, in the Oak Room at Windsor Castle ahead of a private lunch hosted by the queen. Photo: EPA

At the Inbound conference in Boston in September, Barack reminisced that his present for the queen was an eyebrow-raiser.

“When you meet with leaders, you exchange gifts. You never want to be out-gifted! I wanted her actually to be able to use the gift. She loved British Broadway show tunes, and the [new] iPod had just come out. I thought, let’s get an iPod and fill it with British show tunes. The British tabloids thought it was entirely inappropriate, but I think she used it quite a bit,” the former president said.

It set the tone for a relationship that would transcend the rigid parameters of royal protocol.

Queen Elizabeth and then President Barack Obama toast during a state banquet in Buckingham Palace in London, in 2011. Photo: Reuters