Bush meets the Queen - and she ages 200 years

The Queen's state visit to the US reached its climax yesterday as George Bush welcomed her to the White House with trumpets, national anthems a 21-gun salute and, it must be recorded, yet another presidential verbal stumble.

After 55 years on the throne and having met US presidents stretching back to Dwight Eisenhower, the 81-year-old monarch by any standards is one of the most permanent fixtures on the international scene. But even she was not around in Philadelphia 231 years ago, as Mr Bush almost implied.

"The American people are proud to welcome your majesty back to the United States, a nation you've come to know very well," he said in front of 7,000 notables and not-so-notables assembled on the South Lawn of the White House on a sunny, spring morning. "After all you've dined with 10 US presidents. You've helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17 - in 1976," he said.

Of course, it was 1776 when representatives of the original 13 colonies issued the Declaration of Independence from the Britain of her distant ancestor George III. Only two centuries later did the present monarch travel here, to participate in the lavish bicentennial celebrations.

As he realised his error, America's current King George looked somewhat sheepishly at her. She looked back at him from under her hat. Whether she was amused or not was impossible to say. But Mr Bush rescued himself with deft self-deprecation: "She gave me a look only a mother could give a child," he said to much laughter.

As American royal-related gaffes go this was small beer - certainly when compared with the notorious "talking hat" incident, during the Queen's last state visit in 1991. On that occasion, the White House protocol department provided her with a lectern that was too tall. All that TV viewers could see was a bobbing hat, as she delivered her prepared remarks.

This time, however, Mr Bush swiftly made amends for any offence, referring to the Queen as a "great leader" and praising the "special relationship" between the US and Britain.

After the welcome ceremony, Mr Bush and his wife, Laura, held a private lunch for their guests, before accompanying the Queen and Prince Philip on the short walk across Pennsylvania Avenue to Blair House, where the royal couple are staying.

Last night Mr Bush, noted for his laid-back Texan style of entertainment, was hosting the first white-tie dinner of his presidency, complete with a performance by the violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman.

"We did sort of have to convince him a little bit," Mrs Bush said of the efforts that she and the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, made to persuade the President to agree to the event.

Whatever the verbal slips, the Queen's visit is providing some sorely needed relief for Mr Bush from the relentless bad news from Iraq, his almost daily battles with the Democrat-controlled Congress, and an approval rating of 28 per cent, the lowest of any president in almost 30 years.

Interesting? Click here to explore further