Bidens Will Host Their First State Dinner Thursday, Complete with Lobster and Crème Fraîche Ice Cream
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President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden will welcome French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, to the White House Thursday for the first State dinner of the administration — and they're pulling out all the stops.
Due to surging demand after years of pandemic restrictions, up to 400 VIPs are expected to attend the event. It's so large it had to be held in a super-sized tent on the White House South Lawn, bedecked in the shared colors of the U.S. and France.
The dinner features a prestige menu including butter-poached Maine lobster, American Osetra caviar, and award-winning American cheeses, per the White House. The dessert menu will feature French twists on American classics via orange chiffon cake, roasted pears with citrus sauce and crème fraiche ice cream.
One caveat? Because the dinner will be held in a temporary pavilion, the official White House china cannot be used, White House social secretary Carlos Elizondo told CNN.
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The flowers will be red roses: American Beauty varietals and Piano Roses, because Macron likes the piano, per CNN. French-made Champagne flutes filled with American sparkling wine will be used for toasting. Candelabras with red candles will symbolize the Statue of Liberty, which was a gift from France to the United States.
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The evening's entertainment will include a performance by Grammy Award-winner Jon Batiste, accompanied by his father, Michael Batiste, and the U.S. Marine Band with the Army and Air Force Strolling Strings.
Already, the over-the-top ceremony has caused a bit of controversy, with some lawmakers criticizing the administration for reportedly flying in 200 live Maine lobsters for the event — a move that comes while Maine lobsterman are visiting D.C. as the industry faces new restrictions in an effort to protect endangered right whales.
The Macrons paid a visit to the White House on Thursday morning, with the president gifting the French president a custom mirror made of fallen wood from the White House grounds (a reproduction of a mirror from the White House collection that hangs in the West Wing).
According to a pool report, President Biden also gifted President Macron "a custom vinyl record collection of great American musicians and an archival facsimile print of Thomas Edison's 1877 Patent of the American Phonograph."
Dr. Biden, meanwhile, gifted Mrs. Macron "a gold and Emerald pendant necklace designed by a French-American designer," the pool reported.
One gift of significance that Macron gave Biden was an album and CD soundtrack for the film A Man and a Woman, directed by France's Claude Lelouch, which was the 1966 film the Bidens watched on their first date, CNN reports.
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The State dinner comes roughly one year after fallout from a submarine negotiation between France and the U.S.
Last September, France's years-long plan to sell 12 conventional submarines to Australia through a French shipbuilder was scuttled after the U.S., the U.K. and Australia unveiled a trilateral deal — in a partnership dubbed AUKUS — to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines instead, CNN reported.
In response, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said he was "angry and bitter" about AUKUS, adding that such a move "isn't done between allies."
After learning of the new deal, France called home its ambassador to the U.S., canceled a reception in Washington and toned down a celebration to commemorate the 240th anniversary of a French victory over the British in 1781 at the Battle of Capes that helped the U.S. win its independence.
Presidents Biden spoke to Macron by phone in the days after, in an attempt to smooth over relations.
"The two leaders agreed that the situation would have benefited from open consultations among allies on matters of strategic interest to France and our European partners. President Biden conveyed his ongoing commitment in that regard," the White House said in a statement at the time.
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The couples later met publicly in a show of unity, with Dr. Biden and Brigitte sipping wine together in Italy, while President Biden met separately with President Macron at the French embassy in Rome.
Thursday's events mark the first state visit since 2021, with previously planned events being canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Macron isn't the only special guest Biden will be greeting this week. Prince William and Kate Middleton will get face time with the president during their first visit to American in eight years.
The White House said Wednesday that Biden — who will be visiting Boston for a Democratic Party fundraising event — is planning to greet the royal couple while they, too, are Boston, though the exact timing and location remain unclear.
"The president intends to greet the Prince and Princess of Wales when he is in Boston. We are still finalizing and working out the details," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
