Obama's time in London will include talks with Prime Minister David Cameron aimed in part at spurring a push for democracy in the wake of the Arab Spring.
Before the official welcome, the president and his wife had a brief meeting with William and Catherine, now known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, less than a month after watching their fairytale wedding on television.
In a picture released afterwards, Catherine, wearing a pale coffee-coloured dress with capped sleeves and looking tanned after her honeymoon in the Seychelles, chatted with the First Lady while the prince talked with Obama.
Later, the queen will fete Obama with all the trappings of a state dinner and the Obamas will stay in the palace's sumptuous Belgian suite, last used by William and the former Kate Middleton on the night of their April 29 wedding.
But the 24-hour demands that follow a US president everywhere shadowed the London pomp, as Obama took time out to say he was "heartbroken" at the toll of vicious tornados which ripped across the US midwest, killing 116 people.
The serious political business of the visit happens on Wednesday, and Obama and Cameron limbered up for their talks with a vow to support those risking their lives for reform in the Arab world.
"We will not stand by as their aspirations get crushed in a hail of bombs, bullets and mortar fire. We are reluctant to use force, but when our interests and values come together, we know we have a responsibility to act," they wrote.
"We will stand with those who want to bring light into dark, support those who seek freedom in place of repression, aid those laying the building blocks of democracy," they said in an article in the Times newspaper.
The declaration of intent comes less than a week after Obama spelled out his long-awaited response to the tumult which has ousted autocrats and reshaped nations in the Middle East and North Africa.
In a riff on the so-called "special relationship" between the United States and Britain, Obama and Cameron also heralded a new "essential relationship" between the countries.
The NATO mission in Libya, backed by US logistics but led by Britain and France, is also likely to be a key issue when Cameron and Obama meet for an informal chat on Tuesday, ahead of formal talks the next day.
Diplomatic and military maneuvering is heating up over Libya ahead of the G8 summit in France, Obama's next stop on a four-nation European tour which began with a journey to his ancestral roots in Ireland and also takes in Poland.
Mindful that no US leader can afford to hobnob with royals abroad while a disaster unfolds at home, Obama said he was "heartbroken" by the death toll wrought by the killer storm in Missouri that is dominating US news coverage.
He said he would visit the disaster zone on Sunday, hours after returning from Europe.
But for Tuesday, the main focus was on the royals and the meeting with William and Catherine at the lavish 1844 room of Buckingham Palace.
The Obamas were not invited to the wedding because William is not heir to the throne -- he is second in line after his father, Prince William -- and the meeting was the first chance for them to congratulate the royal couple.
After the formal welcome and lunch, the queen will show the Obamas US-related items in the Royal Collection and the Royal Archives.
The queen struck up a visibly close friendship with Michelle Obama when the Obamas visited Britain for the first time in 2009, with both women putting their arms around each other in a highly unusual gesture.
"There is a genuine, genuine -- and I really mean this -- a genuine warmth between the two families," a palace spokesman said.
The Obamas were also due to lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey -- where Catherine placed her wedding bouquet in a tradition begun by the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
On Wednesday, the president is granted the rare honour of addressing both houses of the British parliament.
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