Move over, Punch! This photo of a young John F. Kennedy Jr. greeting Queen Elizabeth II might very well be one of the cutest photos you see online today. When he was four-years-old, JFK Jr. traveled to the United Kingdom with his big sister Caroline Kennedy and their mom Jackie Kennedy for the inauguration of a memorial to the late President John F. Kennedy. Queen Elizabeth, joined by her husband Prince Philip, inaugurated the memorial at Runnymede on May 14, 1965.
JFK Jr. was photographed adorably bowing his head and shaking hands with the Queen as his mother Jackie looked on. The memorial, at the site where the Magna Carta was sealed, was designed by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe with a quote from the president's 1961 inaugural address: "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, or oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
A tribute to his father
In her dedicatory remarks at the ceremony, the Queen said: "Together with his family had many ties with our country. He and they lived among us in that doom-laden period, which led up to the outbreak of war. The experience of those days led him to write when still a young man a most perceptive analysis of the predicament in which Britain found herself. Ever after he maintained a deep and steady interest in the affairs of this nation, whose history and literature he knew and loved so well. His elder brother flying from these shores on a hazardous mission was killed in our common struggle against the evil forces of a cruel tyranny. A dearly loved sister lies buried in an English churchyard. Bonds like these cannot be broken and his abiding affection for Britain engendered an equal response from this side of the Atlantic".
"The unprecedented intensity of that wave of grief mixed with something akin to despair which swept over our people that the news of President Kennedy's assassination was a measure of the extent to which we recognized what he had already accomplished and of the high hopes that rode with him in a future that was not to be," the monarch continued.
The Queen also bequeathed the land "to the American people in memory of the president," whom she said "in death my people still mourn and whom in life they loved and admired."
Sweet moments with Prince Philip
During the engagement, Prince Philip was seen sweetly holding JFK Jr.'s hand. The Duke had shared another tender moment with the late president's son just two years earlier, when he traveled to Washington, D.C. for the state funeral of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
© Bettmann / ContributorDays after the assassination of the 35th president of the United States, Jackie reportedly stumbled upon Queen Elizabeth's husband playing with her son in the White House. "The weekend of the Kennedy assassination, he flew to Washington for the funeral. At the White House on Sunday, Nov. 24, 1963, Jacqueline Kennedy was looking for John Jr. and opened the door to his playroom," author Paul Brandus posted on X after the Duke's death in 2021.
© Bettmann Archive"There she found the Prince sprawled on the floor, playing and laughing with the murdered president's son," Paul added. "Days from his 3d birthday, John had said earlier that he "didn't have anybody to play with" (also: "where's Daddy?") and her Majesty's husband decided that he would entertain the boy. RIP."
© Getty ImagesJFK Jr.'s third birthday coincided with his father's funeral. After the president's assassination, the Queen expressed her "heartfelt" sympathy to his widow, Jackie. According to the book Dear Mrs. Kennedy: The World Shares Its Grief, Letters November 1963, Queen Elizabeth wrote to Jackie: "I am so deeply distressed to learn of the tragic death of President Kennedy. My husband joins me in sending our heartfelt and sincere sympathy to you and to your family."
Philip and Queen Elizabeth had met President Kennedy and his wife in 1961. The Queen and Philip held a dinner in honor of the American couple, marking the second time in the 20th century that a U.S. president had dined at Buckingham Palace, per the White House Historical Association.
