First Lady Jill Biden and French First Lady Brigitte Macron were practically twinning when they met at a restaurant in Rome early Friday evening.
Both petite blondes wore navy suits paired with navy heels.
They got together at a restaurant called Il Marchese, ahead of their husbands’ first meeting since France was blindsided by Australia pulling out of a submarine deal to join a security pact with the United States and the United Kingdom.
Afterward, Biden, 70, standing alongside Macron, 68, said the time spent together was ‘wonderful.’
‘It’s nice, two friends together, just like sisters,’ she cooed.
The two women sipped Chardonnay and ate small bites.
When asked about what they ate and drank, Biden played coy.
‘Well,’ she said, pausing. ‘Practically nothing.’
‘It’s nice, two friends together, just like sisters,’ First Lady Jill Biden (right) said after sipping Chardonnay with French First Lady Brigitte Macron (left) at Il Marchese in Rome
First Lady Jill Biden (left) and French First Lady Brigitte Macron (right) both sported navy suits and heels for their get-together at Il Marchese, which happened as President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron held a bilateral meeting in Rome early evening Friday
Biden waves at reporters staged outside Il Marchese, a restaurant located near the Tiber river in Rome
The French first lady arrived after Biden. She and the American first lady spent time together at spouses events in June at the G7
French First Lady Brigitte Macron (left) and First Lady Jill Biden (right) spoke with reporters after spending time together – while their husbands met – at a restaurant in Rome on the sidelines of the G20
Jill Biden’s meeting with First Lady Macron is part of the first lady’s packed schedule over four days in Italy.
Biden, whose family is from Italy, spoke glowingly about this year’s G20’s host country.
‘We’ve come here so many times. I love Italy, Brigitte loves Italy. Who would not love Italy? There’s nothing that we couldn’t love about it right?’ she said.
The Bidens, after the death of son Beau in 2015, even spent Thanksgiving in Rome, staying at the U.S. ambassador’s residence, CNN reported Friday.
As she arrived at the restaurant, located on a narrow street near the Tiber river, Biden was asked about her earlier meeting with Pope Francis she attended alongside President Joe Biden.
‘It was wonderful, he was wonderful,’ she told the reporters staged outside the restaurant’s door.
Macron, who arrived second, nodded in affirmation when asked if she was excited to meet with Dr. Biden.
The meeting with Macron is part of the first lady’s packed schedule over four days in Italy.
First Lady Jill Biden (right), arriving in Rome early Friday morning alongside President Joe Biden (right), has her own packed schedule while in Italy through Monday
First Lady Jill Biden (center) speaks to children’s theater performers at a G7 event alongside Carrie Johnson (left), the wife of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Brigitte Macron (right), who she’ll meet with in Rome Friday afternoon
First Lady Jill Biden (second from right) and Brigitte Macron (right) stand side-by-side at a spouses event in June, which was part of the G7 in Cornwall
She and Macron had spent time together at a spouses event at the G7 in Cornwall in June, which marked the Bidens’ first overseas trip since the president was sworn-in in January.
Earlier, she had tea with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s wife Serena Cappello at the Chigi Palace, while President Biden met with the prime minister.
On Saturday, the first lady will join all the spouses who traveled to Rome for the G20 for an unspecified event.
That night, she’ll be at the president’s side for an event attended by all the leaders and their spouses.
And then on Sunday, Biden will attend a farewell luncheon for G20 spouses.
First Lady Jill Biden (center right) speaks with Uberto Vanni d’Archirafi (center left), the Senior Official of the Diplomatic Protocol of the Italian Republic, on the tarmac at Rome Fiumicino International Airport early Friday morning
First Lady Jill Biden (left) ushers President Joe Biden (right) toward the Beast as they arrive in Rome, Italy to participate in G20 events through Sunday
First Lady Jill Biden (center) hugs Sarb Edmund (second from left) the 89th Airlift Wing Senior/Training Protocol Specialist, as she and President Joe Biden depart for Rome from Joint Base Andrews Thursday
First Lady Jill Biden (right) and President Joe Biden left for Rome early Thursday afternoon. They will split up Monday with the president traveling to Scotland for COP26 and the first lady heading to Naples to visit a Defense Department-funded high school at a U.S. base
On Monday, while President Biden heads to Scotland to participate in the United Nations’ COP26 climate summit, the first lady will do a solo trip to Naval Support Activity Naples, where about 8,500 U.S. troops work.
There, the first lady will visit Naples Middle High School, which is a school operated through the Department of Defense, meeting with high school students and teachers and then delivering a speech.
The event will marry Biden’s ‘Joining Forces’ initiative, which she started with former First Lady Michelle Obama in 2011 and restarted earlier this year, and her career as an English teacher.
Joining Forces provides support to military members, veterans and their families.
Biden continues to teach community college classes – making her the first, first lady to ever hold an outside job.
Biden had a similarly busy schedule on her first solo trip abroad – representing the United States at the opening of the Tokyo summer Olympics.
There, the first lady held court with then Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his wife Mariko, watched the Olympics with French President Emmanuel Macron, attended an event with heads of delegations at Tokyo’s Imperial Palace and hosted an Olympics watch party for American diplomats at the ambassador’s residence in Tokyo.
She stopped in Alaska and Hawaii to do COVID-19 vaccine advocacy.
In Honolulu, FLOTUS also attended a barbecue for military members and their families as part of Joining Forces.