This Is the Only President Queen Elizabeth II Didn’t Meet with During Her Reign

Her Majesty has met 12 presidents during her reign—except for this one!

In 2018 and 2019, President Donald Trump met with Queen Elizabeth II, making President Trump the 12th sitting president to meet with Her Majesty. Beginning with her meeting with President Harry Truman in 1951 (she was still a princess at the time) her role in diplomatic relationships between the United States and the United Kingdom cannot be understated. However, one president since then has been left off this list—but why?

In 1957, five years into her reign, Queen Elizabeth met with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and in 1961, she hosted President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy at a state visit at Buckingham Palace held in the president’s honor. That in and of itself was quite the event—here’s what really happened when Jackie Kennedy met Queen Elizabeth. After the queen hosted President Richard Nixon in 1960, she visited the White House in 1976 to meet with President Gerald Ford and hosted President Jimmy Carter at Buckingham Palace a year later.

Lyndon B JohnsonHistoria/Shutterstock

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan visited the United Kingdom, and the Queen returned the favor a year later when she attended a State Dinner with President Reagan in San Francisco. The Queen visited the United States again in 1991 to meet with President George H. W. Bush, and in 1995, President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton visited Buckingham Palace. The Queen met with the Clintons again in 2000. President George W. Bush met with the Queen in the United Kingdom in 2001 and 2003, and at the White House in 2007. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama met with the Queen several times during his presidency, and in 2009, made headlines with some broken royal protocol: the hug heard ’round the world. President Trump has now met with the Queen twice. But, did you notice we left one name off this presidential list? What happened with President Lyndon B. Johnson?

It turns out, the Queen’s youngest son, Prince Edward, is to blame. Although Her Majesty likely would have met President Johnson if she had attended President Kennedy’s funeral, those plans had to be scrapped as Queen Elizabeth was pregnant with Prince Edward at the time. Surprised by this piece of trivia? Then make sure to read on for even more surprising facts about Queen Elizabeth.

Isabel Roy
Isabel Roy is a former newsletter editor at Reader’s Digest who writes and reports on home, culture and general interest stories. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse in 2017 with a B.A. in Rhetoric and Writing.