Royal couple to tour US
2005-10-31 08:56
Washington - Britain's Prince Charles and his new bride Camilla arrive in the United States on Tuesday on their first official trip overseas since their wedding in April.
The eight-day visit to New York, Washington and San Francisco will include a wreath-laying ceremony at the site of the September 11 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre, a meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, lunch and dinner at the White House and several receptions, as well as meetings with business leaders and organic farmers.
Royal watchers said the eight-day tour will mark an opportunity for the heir to the British throne to test public sentiment toward Camilla in a country where his ex-wife, the late Princess Diana, remains hugely popular.
Washington hostess and social commentator Sally Quinn said that although the royal couple is not likely to be met with the kind of frenzy that greeted Charles and Diana when they visited in 1985, they were bound to receive a warm welcome.
"Americans are always taken by royalty," Quinn told AFP. "My feeling is that most people have a positive view of Camilla.
"There was a feeling all along here that they (Charles and Camilla) were in love with each other and they should get married."
Other royal observers noted that Camilla had undergone a remarkable image makeover in recent months that is sure to prove a hit with Americans, though not necessarily with the teenage crowd.
"She is not as dowdy as she was," said JD Heyman, a senior editor and royal watcher at People magazine. "She has a very British sensibility, and there is something charming in it.
"The way she wears hats and carries the same purse everywhere, she's very much her own woman, and I think there are a lot of women in their 60s who quite like that."