Washington – In a slip of the tongue, President Bush brought roars of laughter at the White House welcoming ceremony for Queen Elizabeth II.
The president stumbled on a line in his speech today, saying that the queen had dined with 10 U.S. presidents and had helped the United States “celebrate its bicentennial in 17 …” Bush caught himself and corrected the date to 1976. He paused as if to see whether the queen had taken offense.
“She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child,” the president said with a smile.
Bush focused his formal remarks on how the United States and Britain, allies in Iraq and Afghanistan, were standing together in the fight against terrorism. In just four minutes, he mentioned “freedom” and “liberty” seven times, and he told the queen: “Your majesty, I appreciate your leadership during these times of danger and decision.”
By contrast, the queen said that her fifth U.S. visit was an occasion to “step back from our current preoccupations. It is a moment to take stock of our present friendship, rightly taking pleasure from its strengths, while never taking these for granted,” she said. “And it is the time to look forward, jointly renewing our commitment to a more prosperous, safer and freer world.”
The president and his wife, Laura, waited on a near-perfect spring day as the queen and her husband, Prince Philip, arrived by limousine. The two couples briefly shook hands before moving on to the formal welcome, which included trumpet fanfares and a 21-gun salute. Then came a private lunch.
Outside the White House later, dozens of British and American children lined up on Pennsylvania Avenue to meet them. The two leaders, accompanied by their spouses, spent about five minutes with the crowd. The queen shook hands and accepted bouquets of flowers as she chatted with the schoolchildren.
Bush, in the unusual position of playing second fiddle, followed a few feet behind. He then accompanied the queen to Blair House, the president’s guest house, where the royal couple is staying.
The ceremony included a parade by the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, dressed in black tricorn hats, white wigs, waistcoats, colonial coveralls and red regimental coats. Their uniforms were patterned after those worn by the musicians of Gen. George Washington’s Continental Army.
It was a day of pomp and pageantry from a president known for his informality. It also was an uplifting event for a White House at a time when Bush’s approval rating has dropped near all-time lows and he battles a Democratic Congress over funding for an unpopular Iraq war.
In honor of the queen, Bush agreed to host the first white-tie dinner of his presidency, with entertainment by violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman.
“We did sort of have to convince him a little bit” to opt for the white-tie dinner, Laura Bush in an interview on ABC, describing her and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s efforts to talk Bush into hosting the most formal dinner the White House can offer.
Tonight, 134 guests will attend the Bushes’ fifth state dinner in six years but the first in white tie.
The queen’s 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, when Bush’s father was president.
In between the White House events today, 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 will have dinner with the Bushes at the British embassy before returning to London.
