Queen Elizabeth Remembers Former President George H.W. Bush With ‘Great Fondness’

Queen Elizabeth II recalled fond memories of working with George H.W. Bush after the former president passed away at the age of 94 on Friday.

The British monarch released a statement celebrating her friendship with the former president and sending her condolences to his family.

“It was with sadness that I learned of the death of President George H.W. Bush last night,” the statement read.

“President Bush was a great friend and ally of the United Kingdom. He was also a patriot, serving his country with honour and distinction in Office and during the Second World War,” she added. “Prince Philip and I remember our days in Texas in 1991 with great fondness.

“My thoughts and prayers are with President Bush’s family and the American people.”

To celebrate the Queen’s 1991 stop at the White House, she and her husband gave Bush and his wife, Barbara Bush a horseshoe set and the book, America Is Lost, PEOPLE writes. In return, the first couple gave the royals a crystal flower bowl featuring lines by William Shakespeare.

The Queen also joined Bush at an Orioles game in Baltimore. The visit is also remembered for a memorable conversation between Elizabeth and future president George W. Bush.

She asked George Jr., who wore boots with the words “God Save the Queen” on them, if he was the black sheep of the Bush family.

“I guess so,” he famously responded.

In 1993, the outlet writes the Queen knighted Bush Sr. at Buckingham Palace. He did not kneel before Elizabeth since he was an American citizen. The New York Times reports that Elizabeth and Bush Sr. had an even deeper connection as genealogists in the 1980s determined the pair were 13th cousins.

Queen Elizabeth has met with every American President since Harry Truman, except for Lyndon Johnson. The Queen has met with Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Sr., Bill Clinton, George Jr., Barack Obama and Donald Trump in her decades fulfilling her duties as a monarch.

Bush passed away Friday, seven months after the death of his wife Barbara. He is survived by his five children and their spouses, 17 grandchildren and two siblings. He was 94.

The former president was hospitalized multiple times in the last few years of his life due to side effects from Parkinson’s Disease. He also suffered a fall that led him to break a vertebrae in his neck while at his summer home in Maine.

Funeral arrangements for the former president had not been announced yet.