|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Queen Elizabeth to Visit White House NewsMax.com Wires WASHINGTON -- President Bush, a leader known for his informality, is welcoming Queen Elizabeth II to the White House with an uncharacteristic display of high pomp. The British monarch and her husband, Prince Philip, are being greeted Monday morning with a 21-gun salute and a parade by the U.S. Army's Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps attended by 7,000 guests on the White House's South Lawn. An exclusive few will return in white tie and tails for a state dinner among 13 damask-clothed tables set with gold-trimmed ivory china and gilded silver candelabras. It will be the Bushes' fifth state dinner in six years, but the first in white tie. The event may come as a welcome distraction at a time when Bush's approval rate has dropped near all-time lows and he battles Congress over funding for an unpopular Iraq war. "Our nations share an exceptionally close relationship based on deep historical and cultural ties, a common language, shared values and interests and a commitment to defend freedom around the world," the White House said in a press release Friday. "This visit by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is an occasion to celebrate these enduring bonds." The White House said the president was happy to return hospitality to the queen, who hosted the Bushes at a white-tie state banquet in November 2003 during an official visit to Britain. The visit to Washington comes at the tail end of a six-day trip, the Queen's fifth to the United States in 50 years but her first since 1991. The royal couple arrived Sunday night at Andrews Air Force Base before spending the night at Blair House, the president's guest house. Story Continues Below
In between the White House events Monday, the royal couple plan to attend a garden party at the British ambassador's residence. On Tuesday, the queen will join Laura Bush in a tour of Children's National Medical Center. She also plans to plant a tree at the British ambassador's residence and visit NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the National World War II Memorial. On Tuesday night she's to have dinner with the Bushes at the British embassy before returning to London. The royal couple kept a low profile Sunday, with no official events after attending the Kentucky Derby Saturday. They began their six-day trip to the United States in Virginia. The queen addressed the state's General Assembly and visited Jamestown, which is observing the 400th anniversary of the founding of the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
© 2007 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Print Page 
Forward Page 
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2008 NewsMax.Com |