Joe Biden talks about his English roots in Nottingham while researching the Irish descent

Joe Biden gave a rare commitment to his English roots on Wednesday to show that he had not advertised his connections to Great Britain.

The President gave a speech at Ulster University on his whistle stop tour through Belfast, before leaving a three-day trip south of the border, where he would explore his Irish heritage, and joked, British friends had told him that he was really English.

Mr. Biden said that as Vice President he lived next to the British ambassador, which he did not call. He said, during the last trip of the ambassador, before returning to Washington to end his term in office, he brought a gift from Great Britain and claimed that the President was English.

"He brought a book with a photo on the front of a somewhat stocky British captain in his district with a bulldog that was sitting next to him," said Mr. Biden.

"His name was Captain George Biden and he always fooled me and said that they know that bidges are English, they talk about the Irish, bidges are English. He told me that he had gone back and that Lord Admiralty had checked and my great -great -grandfather had written the rules of the mutiny for the British Navy. I said, at least this part is consistent."

Mr. Biden also said that he had found that his second first name had a connection to Great Britain and Nottingham in the Midlands.

"But he always fooled me when I talked about the Irish, he said: 'You are English, think about it.' Then I found the name Robinette - my second first name is Robinette - I thought all the years that it was French. It must have been Huguenots, because in the 17th century they came somewhere on the way to Great Britain, so I don't know what to do, so Teufel is going on here. ”

While Mr. Biden's ancestors can be traced back to Sussex, he has never visited the county, but this week will enter the footsteps of his Irish relatives.

his third great -grandfather paternal, William Biden, was born in England in 1789 and emigrated to the USA, where he settled in Maryland before he died in 1849

According to Eddy Greenfield, a historian, he was born in Sussex and was baptized in St. John The Baptist’s Church in Westbourne on March 8, 1789. William was the second child and son of James Biden, OFM Pagham, who was born in November 1767, Ann Silverlock, born in March 1766, who married on May 16, 1785.

Mr. Greenfield said that the connection from Westbourne can be followed "over to Maryland and through the ascent to Joe". He said he believed that his research is "as close to 100 percent as you can get without a DNA confirmation".

MEGAN SMOLENYAK, an American ancestor researcher, also associated the president with William Biden after finding documents that associated him and other members of his family with Westbourne.

William, a stonemason, died at the age of 60 and was buried at the Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore, a key town in the family tree of Mr. Biden.

William Biden married Mary Elkins, and they had a son, Joseph J. Biden, who descended from the President's great -grandfather, George F. Biden. His grandfather and father was also called Joseph and the president was born in Pennsylvania in 1942.

I have never been to sussex

Mr. Biden visited the United Kingdom as President six times, but has never been to Sussex. It is unclear whether he was aware of his connections to the district before the 2020 presidential election campaign, as a historian began researching his family tree.

However, he has known possible English roots for some time after being incorrectly associated with another William Biden from Cambridgeshire. Mr. Biden once said that a "Gentleman named Biden" wrote to him from Mumbai that they had a common relative who was "great, great, great, something or other". It was later found that William Biden died in Myanmar in 1843, the former Burma.

Ten of the 16 great -great -grandparents of Mr. Biden came from Ireland, and the visit is of personal importance for the president, who remembers that his grandfather had told him: "Joe, remember, the best drop in blood is Irish."

On Friday, the President makes his way to the Mayo county, where he has family roots.

He talked about how moved he went through the streets of Ballina, where his great-great-grandfather Edward Blewitt lived before emigrating to America.

He will visit the Sanctuary of our Lady Knock and visit the research unit for family history of the North Mayo Heritage and Genealogical Center.

He will also give a speech in the St. Muredach Cathedral. This could also be a moving moment for Mr. Biden, whose friends testify to the strength of his Irish-Catholic identity.

'BBC? I am Irish

Mr. Biden has often highly played up his Irish roots. In 2021 he said, his great -grandfather, who had fled to the United States from a famous Ireland, had gone because of what “the British” did.

the year before, after his election, he answered a question from a BBC journalist with the joke: "BBC? I'm Irish."

The carefree comments by Mr. Biden mark a change compared to previous remarks in which he said with reference to his last name that "my grandfather and my mother were never crazy about it is English".

The President may have no plans to visit West Bourne soon, but the 2,000 inhabitants of the village are ready to welcome his cavalcade.

"I don't understand why he shouldn't be welcome," said Richard Hitchcock, the chairman of the local council. "I don't really understand why anyone would have something against it, he is not Donald Trump, isn't it?

"I don't think anyone would have anything against that Mr. Biden appears in Westbourne."