First Lady Jill Biden left for an overseas jaunt late Tuesday night to undertake a series of glittering dinners, receptions, diplomatic meetings, drinks, banquets, and a wedding reception.
The flying trip ends with her joining President-elect Donald Trump and other dignitaries in Paris to celebrate the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral.
The six-day, four-country escapade includes Italy, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar before culminating in the French capital appearance.
There she will add her presence to that of some 50 national leaders and representatives at the reopening of the rejuvenated cathedral which has been painstakingly reconstructed after fire nearly destroyed it five years ago.
This will not be first time the first lady has stepped out in place of her husband or played a part in his day-to-day political engagement with the public.
Jill Biden’s trip is her 10th solo excursion outside the U.S. She also has accompanied her husband, President Joe Biden, on several of his foreign trips, AP reports.
On her own, she has led the U.S. delegations to both the pandemic delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 as well as this year’s Games in Paris, traveled to Ukraine shortly after the invasion by Russia, and has visited Latin America and Africa.
In October, she attended the inauguration of Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum.
The first lady arrives Wednesday at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Catania, Italy, to meet with personnel and deliver remarks. The AP report further sets out:
The first lady then stops in Gesso, Italy, before continuing on to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for a day’s worth of events on Thursday. The schedule includes a tour of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi as part of the Biden Cancer Moonshot program, and participation in a conversation about the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research at the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit.
Biden will also visit with Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, chairwoman of the General Women’s Union and the Family Development Foundation, and president of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, in Abu Dhabi.
On Friday in Doha, Qatar, the first lady will highlight the two countries’ interests in education and health with separate visits to the Qatar Foundation and Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, respectively.
Her presence at a dinner banquet hosted by Sheikha Moza bint Nasser to celebrate the royal family wedding of Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Sheikha Fatima bin Nasser bin Hassan Al Thani at the Al-Wajba Palace in Doha is also on the agenda.
She is scheduled to return to Washington on Sunday.