Queen sympathises with Virginia
04/05/2007 11:31  - (SA)  

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Williamsburg, Virginia - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II expressed her sympathies to those affected by the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech on Thursday, while touring the US state of Virginia.

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

The queen 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 US 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."

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.

First permanent English settlement in US

She then visited Virginia's restored 18th-century capital Williamsburg.

On Friday she will visit a museum and archaeological dig site at Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the United States.

The queen and Prince Philip will be 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. Cheney also is expected to attend a lunch in the queen's honour in Williamsburg.

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

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