White House toasts the queen
2007-05-08 08:21
Jitendra Joshi
Washington - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and US President George W Bush on Monday solemnly toasted the tight bonds between their countries, in the grandest White House dinner of Bush's administration.
"Ours is a partnership always to be reckoned with in the defence of freedom and the spread of prosperity," the queen said in a toast to Bush at an ultra-formal white-tie state dinner at the White House.
Responding to a toast from the president who hailed the "common values" of the historic allies, the 81-year-old queen referred to the challenges posed by Iraq and Afghanistan, along with climate change and poverty eradication.
Both the United States and Britain had "suffered grievously at the hands of international terrorism", she said, but stressed that united with their friends in Europe and beyond, the old allies would prevail.
Disagreements
"Disagree from time to time we may, but united we must always remain," she added, in perhaps an oblique nod to the bitter public opposition in her country to Bush's decision to invade Iraq with the backing of British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
In his own dinner toast, Bush paid tribute to the queen's commitment to the transatlantic alliance during her long reign. "We're confident that the Anglo-American friendship will endure for centuries to come, he said.
"Our alliance is rooted in the beliefs that we share," the president said.
"Together we are supporting young democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan."
He ended by toasting Elizabeth and "our staunch allies, the valiant people of the United Kingdom".
The British monarch and her husband, Prince Philip, 85, were earlier greeted on the south lawn of the White House in brilliant sunshine by about 7 000 guests ahead of the evening function.
Lamp posts near the White House were festooned with Union Jacks and US flags as helicopters and sharpshooters formed part of a tight security cordon around the presidential mansion, which was burned down by British soldiers in 1814.
White-tie and tails event
For the ceremonial climax of the queen's six-day state visit, the White House laid on its best china and crystal tableware for the evening banquet - the first white-tie and tails event of the six-year Bush presidency.
The queen wore a white ball gown with a blue sash, and a diamond tiara that dazzled in the glare of photographers' flashes. First Lady Laura Bush wore a turquoise Oscar de la Renta gown.
Laura Bush said her husband, who is most at home down on his Texas ranch in denim jeans and cowboy boots, had to be cajoled into wearing the formal gentlemen's attire by herself and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"Dr Rice and I took it upon ourselves to talk him into it, because we thought if we were ever going to have a white-tie event, this would be the one," she told reporters ahead of the banquet.
The 134 diners included Vice-President Dick Cheney, Rice and General Peter Pace, chairperson of the US military joint chiefs of staff. The only senior Democrat present was Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
Golfer Arnold Palmer and Superbowl-winning quarterback Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts also attended. Jockey Calvin Borel was a late addition after the queen saw him win the Kentucky Derby horse race on Saturday.
Earlier at the ceremonial welcome, Bush had fluffed his lines as he mentioned a visit paid by Elizabeth to mark the 200th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence from Britain "in 17 - in 1976."
After the queen glanced up at him from under her wide-brimmed black hat, he joked to the laughing audience: "She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child."
- AFP