Who are America's First and Second families? Meet the Bidens and the Harrises
From parents to grandchildren, we give you a brief family history of US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris
US President Joe Biden, right, is embraced by his son, Hunter Biden, and First Lady Jill Biden after being sworn in during his inauguration on January 20. EPA
Elizabeth Warren, Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, her husband and Meena Harris, the niece of Vice President Kamala Harris, are seen before the inauguration of Joe Biden. EPA
Meena Harris, the niece of Vice President Kamala Harris, takes a selfie with Senator Elizabeth Warren and her husband Bruce Mann. Twitter/ @meenaharris
The son and daughter of President Joe Biden, Hunter and Ashley, wave as they arrive to attend his inauguration at the US Capitol. AP
Joe Biden, flanked by First Lady Jill Biden, son Hunter and daughter Ashley, is sworn in as the 46th US President. AFP
Hunter Biden and his wife Melissa Cohen, with their son, Beau Biden, after the inauguration. AFP
Hunter and Ashley Biden arrive with family members for the inaugural ceremony. EPA
Ashley Biden, daughter of US President Joe Biden, adjusts the hair of her niece, Natalie Biden, before the inauguration. AFP
Vice President Kamala Harris with her great niece, Amara Harris. Twitter/ @meenaharris
US Vice President Kamala Harris, husband Doug Emhoff, her great niece Amara, and family members walk the abbreviated parade route after US President Joe Biden's inauguration. AFP
Maya Harris and Meena Harris, the sister and niece of Vice President Kamala Harris. Twitter/ @meenaharris
Amara Harris, the great niece of Vice President Kamala Harris, poses for a picture with Hillary Clinton. Twitter/ @meenaharris
Members of Kamala Harris's family talk with New York Senator Chuck Schumer during the inauguration. AP
US President Joe Biden prepares with his family before addressing the nation during a 'Celebrating America' event at the Lincoln Memorial. Bloomberg
First Lady Dr Jill Biden, daughter Ashley Biden and family look on during the 'Celebrating America' programme at the Lincoln Memorial. AFP
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr Jill Biden watch a firework display beside family and staff members from the Truman Balcony of the White House in Washington, DC. Reuters
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden pose with their family in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln during the 'Celebrating America' event at the Lincoln Memorial. Reuters
US President Joe Biden's grandchildren and family members attend the 'Celebrating America' inaugural programme at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. AFP
As President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn into power this week, everybody wants to know more about who's in charge of the US – and who they're related to.
Here, webreak down a brief family history of the new First and Second families.
The Bidens
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr, the 46th President of the US, was born in 1942 to parents Catherine Eugenia and Joseph Robinette Sr. The oldest of four siblings, Joe, 78, was raised in the blue-collar city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and worked briefly as an attorney before entering the political arena.
Before that happened, however, he fell in love. During his junior year at the University of Delaware, he met Neilia Hunter. As he graduated in 1965 from the University of Delaware, where he studied history and political science, Biden was accepted into Syracuse University Law School, and the following year married Hunter.
Learn more about the Biden family in the gallery below:
US President Joe Biden, with his wife Jill Biden and members of his family as they salute the crowd on stage after delivering remarks in Wilmington, Delaware, on November 7, 2020. AFP
Wife: Dr Jill Biden. Jill and Joe met in 1975, when Joe was a senator, after they were set up on a blind date by Joe’s brother, Frank. They married in June 1977 and had one child together, daughter Ashley, as well as raising Hunter and Beau, Joe’s two sons with his first wife, Neilia. Getty Images
First wife: Neilia Hunter Biden. The President-elect and Neilia were married in August 1966, and had three children, sons Hunter and Beau, and daughter Naomi. Neilia and 13-month-old Naomi were killed in a car crash on December 18, 1972, when their car collided with a trailer-truck. Hunter and Beau sustained injuries, but survived the crash. Getty Images
Son: Beau Biden. Joe and his first wife, Neilia, welcomed son, Beau in February 1969. He attained the rank of Major in the US army, and was deployed to Iraq in 2008. He later became a federal prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office. He passed away in 2015 from brain cancer at the age of 46. AFP
Son: Robert Hunter Biden, known as Hunter. Joe and Neilia welcomed Hunter in February 1970. The lawyer and businessman shares three children, Naomi, Finnegan and Maisy, with his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle. He dated his brother Beau’s widow, Hallie, following Beau’s death, and has a further two children, whose names have not been made public, one with Lunden Alexis Roberts, and a son with his wife Melissa Cohen. Reuters
Daughter: Ashley Biden. Joe and Jill’s only daughter has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania. And the 39-year-old, who is married to plastic surgeon Howard Krein, worked as executive director of the Delaware Centre for Justice from 2014 to 2019. She also founded the fashion company Livelihood in 2017. Getty Images
Granddaughter: Naomi Biden. The eldest of Biden’s grandchildren was named after her late aunt and is the daughter of Hunter and Kathleen. The 27-year-old graduated from Columbia Law School in May 2020 and was a classmate of Tiffany Trump while at the University of Pennsylvania.
Granddaughter: Finnegan Biden. Hunter and Kathleen’s 20-year-old daughter is currently a student at the University of Pennsylvania. She regularly appeared on the campaign trail with her grandfather. AFP
Granddaughter: Maisy Biden. Younger sister to Naomi and Finnegan, Maisy, 18, is close friends with former First Daughter, Sasha Obama. She enjoys playing basketball, and is an old hand on the campaign trail, having accompanied her grandfather on trips when he was Vice President. AP Photo
Granddaughter: Natalie Biden. Sixteen-year-old Natalie is the daughter of the late Beau. She campaigned for her grandfather throughout the election, revealing: 'Pop told us that this election would be totally different from any other election ever. He was worried how it would affect his kids.' Reuters
Grandson: Robert Hunter Biden II. Natalie’s younger brother (second from left) was named after his uncle. Although he is rarely pictured in public, he appeared with his sister and cousins reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in a video at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Twitter / demconvention
Sister: Valerie Biden Owens (right). Highly active in her older brother Joe’s political campaigns since he first ran for the Senate back in the '70s, Owens served as a US senior adviser to the United Nations General Assembly and is vice chair of the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware. AFP
Brother: Frank Biden. The youngest of the four senior Biden siblings, the troubled 66-year-old businessman lives in Florida. He was arrested in 2003 for DUI and petty theft. He was arrested again in 2004 for driving with a suspended license, and was ordered to attend rehab. 'No one anticipated this. It’s spontaneous,' he told the 'Palm Beach Post' of his brother’s win. 'It's overwhelming.' Getty Images
Brother: Jim Biden. Seventy-year-old Jim has been at his brother’s side throughout the campaign. 'He has been at his older brother’s side at nearly every critical juncture in Joe’s personal and political life,' notes political website Propublica. 'As fundraiser for his brother’s first Senate race in 1972, he helped launch Joe’s political career.' Getty Images
Daughter-in-law: Hallie Biden. The widow of the late Beau Biden, who she married in 2002, 45-year-old Hallie began dating her brother-in-law Hunter in 2016, a year after Beau died. 'We were sharing a very specific grief,' Hunter told 'The New Yorker'. 'I started to think of Hallie as the only person in my life who understood my loss.' Reuters
Daughter-in-law: Melissa Cohen. The South African filmmaker married Hunter in May 2019, and the pair has a child together, a son, whose name or photos they have chosen not to reveal. Hunter proposed less than a week after their first date, with then-Vice President Biden telling Cohen: 'Thank you for giving my son the courage to love again.' AP Photo
Son-in-law: Howard Krein. Married to Joe’s daughter, Ashley, the pair was introduced by her half-brother, Beau, and they married in 2012. Krein, 39, is assistant professor of otolaryngology at Thomas Jefferson University and a founding partner and co-director of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital’s Facial Aesthetic and Reconstructive Centre. AFP
The pair went on to have three children: Joseph "Beau", who was born in 1969; Robert "Hunter", born in 1970; and Naomi "Amy", born in 1971.
Biden was elected as a Delaware Senator aged 29, one of the youngest senators in American history, before tragedy struck, as his wife and youngest child were killed in a car accident.
Beau and Hunter, who were also in the vehicle, were seriously injured, and so Biden skipped the swearing-in ceremony for new senators, taking the oath of office from his sons' hospital room instead.
In 1977, as Biden was still working in the Senate, he married Jill, nee Jacobs. Four years later, in 1981, the couple had a child, Ashley.
As Biden's career has gone strength to strength, his family has continued to expand, with his sons having children of their own. Beau Biden had two children, Natalie and Hunter.
Hunter Biden has three daughters – Naomi, Finnegan and Maisy – with his first wife Kathleen, fathered another son called Lunden Roberts, and recently had another boy with his second wife, Melissa.
They called him Beau, after Hunter's brother, who tragically died in 2015 of brain cancer.
The Harrises
Vice President Kamala Harris – the first woman, black and Asian-American to ever take up the role – also has a sprawling, blended family backing her.
Kamala Devis Harris, 56, was born in Oakland, California, to Shyamala Gopalan and Donald J Harris. Her mother, who had emigrated from Tamil Nadu in India in 1958, was a breast cancer scientist, while her father, who arrived in the US from Jamaica in 1961, is a professor at Stanford University.
See more of the Harris clan here:
Vice President Kamala Harris with her stepson Cole, husband Doug and stepdaughter Ella. Instagram / Kamala Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris married Doug Emhoff in 2014. Reuters / Instagram/ Kamala Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris with her younger sister, Maya. Instagram/ Kamala Harris and Maya Harris
Kamala Harris's mother Shyamala Gopalan, a breast cancer scientist, holding her as a baby, left, and watching her sworn in as San Francisco's new district attorney in 2004, right. AFP/ AP
Vice President Kamala Harris hugs her niece, Meena Harris. Instagram / Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris and her stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff. Instagram / Kamala Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris with her great niece, Amara Harris. Twitter/ Meena Harris
Kamala's great nieces Amara and Leela, with their mother Meena Harris. Instagram/ Meena Harris
She grew up with a younger sister, Maya, 53, who had daughter, Meenakshi "Meena" Ashley Harris, in 1984.
In 2014, Harris married American lawyer Doug Emhoff, and became stepmother to his son Cole, 26, and daughter Ella, 22.
Her niece, Meena, also had children of her own with husband Nikolas Ajagu. They have two daughters, Amara and Leela, making Harris their great aunt.
