America welcomes the Queen (but struggles to lay the red carpet)

[Blackleaf]

America welcomes the Queen

The world's most powerful Head of State arrives in the US for her first visit since 1991 - and the Americans cannot even lay the red carpet properly

Visit ... The Queen is welcomed by America and, right, meets chiefs
Pictures: ARTHUR EDWARDS

From PAUL THOMPSON
in Virginia
May 04, 2007


THE Queen jetted in for her first state visit to America for 16 years last night.

Richmond in Virginia was gripped by Royal-mania — with thousands lining the streets as Her Majesty was whisked by motorcade to the town’s square.

The excited crowds — including state workers who were given the day off especially — were told through a PA system: “The Queen has landed.”

Her mag-jesty ... Queen Elizabeth II on the cover of Vanity Fair and,
inset, at Heathrow Airport at the start of her journey to the US



And at the start of her six-day tour, she immediately paid tribute to the 32 people massacred in last month’s Virginia Tech college shooting.

The university’s cadet force braved the rains to form a guard of honour at Virginia Assembly.

The Queen said: “My heart goes out to the students, friends and families of all those killed and to the many others who have been affected.

“On behalf of the people of the United Kingdom, I extend my deepest sympathies.”

The Queen, 81, who is accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, was then meeting privately with between ten and 25 survivors and bereaved families.

Her Majesty also met a group of native American indian chiefs.

In her seven-minute speech, she also praised the “special relationship” between the UK and US.

The massive interest in her visit has been heightened by Helen Mirren’s Oscar-winning performance in the movie The Queen, which grossed more than £50million in the US.

And Her Majesty is making a regal appearance — on the front cover of US magazine Vanity Fair to mark her visit.

She posed at Buckingham Palace for Annie Liebovitz, America’s best-known celebrity photographer.

Red carpet and faces​

Mix-up ... red carpet problems



GUARDS lay out the red carpet for the Queen and, to their horror, discover it’s 15ft too short.

It got worse for officials when the steps to the plane were also too small.

The mix-up meant Her Majesty was stranded in the jet for 30 minutes.

Prince Philip peered bemusedly from the front of the jet to see the hold-up before the problems were sorted.

thesun.co.uk
----------------------

How long before some dumb American says to the Queen: "Did you get an Oscar for your performance in The Queen?"

 

[Pangloss]

How daft: "Oh my, I'm stuck in a plane until a carpet the right colour can be found. Oh, now it's too short. My goodness - my feet can't touch the same concrete the commoners touch."

Gimme a break.

Pangloss

 

[Phil B]

How daft: "Oh my, I'm stuck in a plane until a carpet the right colour can be found. Oh, now it's too short. My goodness - my feet can't touch the same concrete the commoners touch."

Gimme a break.

Pangloss

I would doubt very much that it would have been her idea to wait for a red carpet - some pompous lackey would have just told her that they were not ready for her yet.

 

[jwv]

How daft: "Oh my, I'm stuck in a plane until a carpet the right colour can be found. Oh, now it's too short. My goodness - my feet can't touch the same concrete the commoners touch."

Gimme a break.

Pangloss

For sure. The whole idea of monarchy in this day and age is ludicrous. She's a very dedicated and hard-working woman as an individual, but the entire system she embraces is archaic.

 

[Pangloss]

I would doubt very much that it would have been her idea to wait for a red carpet - some pompous lackey would have just told her that they were not ready for her yet.

You mean she can't look out a window? Poor queenie. . .

Pangloss

 

[Phil B]

You mean she can't look out a window? Poor queenie. . .

Pangloss

I wouldn't know whether she could look out of a window or not - I wasn't there.

Quick question though - If it was a corrupt yet elected head of state waiting for a red carpet would you have the same problem? or alternatively would it not have been considered as "newsworthy" in the first place?

 

[Pangloss]

Red carpets and treating anyone as better than anyone else puts a burr under my saddle.

Fair question though.

Pangloss

 

[Phil B]

Red carpets and treating anyone as better than anyone else puts a burr under my saddle.

Not just you.

 

[I think not]

Despite Blackleaf's inferiority complex and the constant need to remind everyone that the Brits' sh*t don't stink, its customary to roll out the red carpet for Heads of State.

I have no love for the Queen or the monarchy, but she's Head of State and should be treated accordingly. Anyone else in her place would have done the same. Wait.

 

[Phil B]

As an aside does anyone know the reason why it is a red carpet, why not blue for example?

 

[jwv]

As an aside does anyone know the reason why it is a red carpet, why not blue for example?

REd is traditionally the "royal" colour.

 

[Liberalman]

What do you expect from the American military.

These are the same guys that put on the Canadian flag upside down when they paraded their honor guard when Toronto won the World Series two years in a row.

These are the guys that decided to kill four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan just because they felt like it; I think the pilot got the medal of honor for that one.

Do you wonder why Canada never joined the Americans in Iraq?

The American military what can you say they are just following tradition and lets leave it at that.

 

[Pangloss]

We are not talking about the failures of protocol, Liberalman - the discussion is about the inappropriateness of this protocol existing in the first place.

Reading the posts would have pointed this out to you.

Pangloss

 

[Liberalman]

Pangloss

I was referring to the post, which is under the picture of the Keystone cops trying to lay the red carpet that was too short.

Since you mention protocol it is appropriate for the Queen of England since she is there to celebrate the four hundred years of the English settlement.

She was invited by the town’s people to help celebrate and before the Queen accepts they have to abide by the rules by Her Majesty’s Service and this includes the red carpet.

The Military probably from the local base decided to play their tricks on the Queen by acting stupid and made sure the carpet was too short.

So this is not necessarily a protocol issue but the necessary needs of a famous person coming to an event.

 

[Blackleaf]

For sure. The whole idea of monarchy in this day and age is ludicrous. She's a very dedicated and hard-working woman as an individual, but the entire system she embraces is archaic.

I've had to say this MANY times on this forum.

The constitutional monarchy is NOT archaic. It fates back to the 17th Century and the English Civil War when the English chopped off the head of King Charles I (who was the last Absolute Monarch) in 1649.

His successor, King Charles II, was the first Constitutional Monarch, and he came to the Throne in 1660.

Compare that to the Republic, which dates back to the times of Rome and Ancient Greece, and maybe even beyond.

Remember that there were republics in the world for centuries before the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms that later merged to form England ever had their own kings and queens.

So it's the Republic that's VERY archaic, not the constitutional monarchy.

 

[Blackleaf]

Despite Blackleaf's inferiority complex and the constant need to remind everyone that the Brits' sh*t don't stink, its customary to roll out the red carpet for Heads of State.

Yeah, but it's customary to roll out the red carpet PROPERLY and not make a complete mess of it.

As for having an "inferiority complex", is it not the AMERICANS who have that?

You all moan and complain about the Monarchy and how you are glad that you don't have one but then when the Queen visits the United States she has HUNDREDS of well-wishers wanting to see her. In Richmond there were so many people wanting to see her that their names had to be picked out in a lottery to avoid overcrowding. So much for Americans hating the Monarchy!

Compare that to when Bush visited the UK a few years ago. The only people wanting to see your Head of State were those wanting to heckle him and protest against the Iraq War.

The fact is that Britain's Head of State is admired throughout the world - America's is not.

 

[Blackleaf]

Queen tours Jamestown with U.S. vice president

5th May 2007

Queen Elizabeth II has visited Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the United States.

The Queen and Prince Philip were accompanied by Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, for the visit to the Jamestown Settlement living history museum as well as the Historic Jamestowne archaeological dig site.

The Queen meets the American public at Jamestown Fort

• Red carpet mix-up for the Queen as she lands in U.S.
• VIDEO: The Queen arrives in Jamestown for a visit

Cheney also is expected to attend a lunch in the Queen's honor in Williamsburg.

Several hundred royal-watchers - including Carol Rideout, who got up well before dawn to see the Queen - were pleasantly surprised.

Rather than being kept at a distance from the replica of the three-sided original Jamestown fortress that became America's first permanent English settlement 400 years ago, they were allowed inside for a good view of the monarch.

"I got lucky. Everyone in the world knows Queen Elizabeth II. She's come so far and I just wanted to see her," said Rideout, a retired scientist.

The Queen will visit the College of William and Mary before leaving for Kentucky, where she will watch the Kentucky Derby. She will also visit Washington and attend a state dinner with President George W. Bush before leaving on Tuesday.

The Queen walks near the replica of the Susan Constant as she tours the Jamestown settlement



The royal couple arrived in the United States on Thursday and stopped first in Virginia's capital city of Richmond, where the Queen spoke to the Virginia General Assembly.

She praised the cultural changes that have occurred since her last visit to Jamestown 50 years ago, when the anniversary was an all-white affair in a state with a government in open defiance of a 1954 U.S. Supreme Court order to desegregate public schools.

She also mentioned the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech, where a gunman killed 32 people and then himself.

"My heart goes out to the students, friends and families of those killed and to the many others who have been affected," the Queen said.

"On behalf of the people of the United Kingdom, I extend my deepest sympathies at this time of such grief and sorrow."

Men dressed as colonial soldiers prepare for the visit of the Queen



Afterward, she met briefly with students and faculty from Virginia Tech, including three who were wounded, and with 100-year-old Oliver W. Hill, a civil rights attorney whose litigation helped bring about that 1954 desegregation decision.

Then the Queen was off to Virginia's restored 18th-century capital. She arrived in Colonial Williamsburg and waved a gloved hand at the several thousand people who lined Duke of Gloucester Street despite a drizzle to watch the carriage take her past homes, stores and taverns to her hotel.

People began cheering as soon as they spotted the carriage. Many waved small British and Scottish flags.

Coachman Richard Nicoll drove the open-topped, mustard-yellow carriage while two footmen stood on its back end during the 10-minute ride. All three wore powdered wigs and green uniforms with yellow trim.

The Queen is shown a breastplate in the armoury of the reconstructed Jamestown fort



Nicoll got a chance to speak briefly with the queen. He said she thanked him for the ride, then asked what kind of horses pulled the carriage. The answer: Belgian quarter horse cross.

"I would have been disappointed if she hadn't asked," Nicoll added. The Queen is an avid horsewoman.

Nicoll is originally from England, so he was especially pleased to be able to be part of the occasion.

"To give your monarch a carriage ride - I don't think that many people can say they've done that," he said.

Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor rode in the first of three carriages following the Queen's and carrying dignitaries. O'Connor is honorary chairwoman of the Jamestown 2007 commemoration.

O'Connor's carriage was the one the queen and her husband rode in during their 1957 trip. The carriage the queen used Thursday was built in 1960 and is fancier.



READERS' COMMENTS

With the Queen's visit to the US, I feel it is like having a long lost relative stopping by and being very excited to see them. We don't have Royals, so it is very special having such a grand lady in our country. I hope we only show her a good time, and let her know she can be proud of us. After all we all came from the same stock.

- Andrea, Los Angeles, CA USA

dailymail.co.uk

 

[jjaycee98]

How daft: "Oh my, I'm stuck in a plane until a carpet the right colour can be found. Oh, now it's too short. My goodness - my feet can't touch the same concrete the commoners touch."

Gimme a break.

Pangloss

The Carpet was the Minor problem. They also had to find another set of stairs as they rolled out a Stairway for a different make of plane. What would you have her do? Jump?

 

[jjaycee98]

Red carpets and treating anyone as better than anyone else puts a burr under my saddle.

Fair question though.

Pangloss

Well...truth is some people are better than others. So what? Doesn't bother me one bit to acknowledge that. Takes nothing from me.

 

[Pangloss]

The Carpet was the Minor problem. They also had to find another set of stairs as they rolled out a Stairway for a different make of plane. What would you have her do? Jump?

Sure - Queen Hippity-Hop.

Actually I'd have her stay at home, give away all her inherited wealth and get a job.

Pangloss