Obama and wife Michelle will be hosted by the queen for a brief meeting on 1 April, the day before the crunch summit on tackling the world economic crisis, Buckingham Palace said.

The monarch, Prince Philip and other members of the royal family including heir to the throne Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will also host a reception at the palace on the same day for other G20 world leaders.

Buckingham Palace added it was not releasing further details at this stage for security reasons.

The much-vaunted G20 summit is being held at the ExCel conference centre in east London.

It is being hosted by Britain, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the G20, and will also be attended by countries including the US, Japan, China, France, Germany, Russia, India and South Africa.

AFP