President Bush Welcomes Queen Elizabeth II to the White House

Fox News ^ | 5/7/2007 | Associated Press - Fox News

[VxH]

WASHINGTON — President Bush, a leader known for his informality, welcomed Queen Elizabeth II to the White House Monday with an uncharacteristic display of high pomp.

"We did sort of have to convince him a little bit" to opt for the white-tie dinner, first Lady Laura Bush said Monday of her and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's efforts to talk Bush into hosting the most formal dinner the White House can offer.

The British monarch and her husband, Prince Philip, are being greeted later Monday morning with a 21-gun salute and a parade by the U.S. Army's Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps attended by 7,000 guests on the White House's South Lawn.

An exclusive few will return in white tie and tails for the state dinner among 13 damask-clothed tables set with gold-trimmed ivory china and gilded silver candelabras.

"We're very excited to host Her Majesty," Mrs. Bush said Monday morning on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"We had the opportunity to be here the last time she was here for a state dinner (hosted by the first President Bush in 1991) ... and we're so thrilled to have the chance to host her and to show her the strong affection the American people have for the British," she said.

[VxH]

>>Errr, we DO have a history of thousands of years.

 

ARTHUR:

How do you do, good lady? I am Arthur, King of the Britons. Who's castle is that?

WOMAN:

King of the who?

ARTHUR:

The Britons.

WOMAN:

Who are the Britons?

ARTHUR:

Well, we all are. We are all Britons, and I am your king.

WOMAN:

I didn't know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective.

DENNIS:

You're fooling yourself. We're living in a dictatorship: a self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working classes--

WOMAN:

Oh, there you go bringing class into it again.

DENNIS:

That's what it's all about. If only people would hear of--

ARTHUR:

Please! Please, good people. I am in haste. Who lives in that castle?

WOMAN:

No one lives there.

ARTHUR:

Then who is your lord?

WOMAN:

We don't have a lord.

ARTHUR:

What?

DENNIS:

I told you. We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week,...

ARTHUR:

Yes.

DENNIS:

...but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting...

ARTHUR:

Yes, I see.

DENNIS:

...by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs,...

ARTHUR:

Be quiet!

DENNIS:

...but by a two-thirds majority in the case of more major--

ARTHUR:

Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!

WOMAN:

Order, eh? Who does he think he is? Heh.

ARTHUR:

I am your king!

WOMAN:

Well, I didn't vote for you.

ARTHUR:

You don't vote for kings.

WOMAN:

Well, how did you become King, then?

ARTHUR:

The Lady of the Lake,...

[angels sing]

...her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur.

[singing stops]

That is why I am your king!

DENNIS:

Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

ARTHUR:

Be quiet!

DENNIS:

Well, but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!

ARTHUR:

Shut up!

DENNIS:

I mean, if I went 'round saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

ARTHUR:

Shut up, will you? Shut up!

DENNIS:

Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system.

ARTHUR:

Shut up!

DENNIS:

Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

ARTHUR:

Bloody peasant!

DENNIS:

Oh, what a give-away. Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That's what I'm on about. Did you see him repressing me? You saw it, didn't you?

[VxH]

>>Sea Salt? What are you talking aboot pal?

 

If Gandhi made Sea Salt by the Sea Shore how much Sea Salt did Gandhi make?

 

See?

 

Maybe you'd like to change the royal subject and discuss the price of tea in China?

 

Tyranny of the Appetite.

 

Tata

 

[VxH]

>>In 1940-41, these Britain-haters would
>>have been shrugging off the Nazi threat

 

Nah, that was that some British Prime Minister named Neville.

 

 

 

[Rikstir]

great film, the monty’s are legends. Holy Grail is good, but the life of Brian is better!

[Rikstir]

good to hear of support from you mate. if i offend anyone in response to the anti-uk party then my apologies. My ire is directed at them only, and not the vast majority of Americans.

[Rikstir]

“Tyranny of the Appetite.”

sorry pal, I aint reading extra stuff, so can you give me a brief?

Also, to one and all, what is this ‘tyranny of the appetite’? I’m not well read at all, and can’t do maths, so need stuff explaining to me. Its our educational system you know...

I do not see....

[California Patriot]

Chamberlain was doing his best (which wasn’t good enough) to cope with a bad situation. Churchill, at least in retrospect, recognized this. He cannot be accused of sympathizing with Nazism (not fully understanding Hitler’s malevolence is different) or of not caring what happened to Britain. Some American isolationists sympathized with Nazism, and many didn’t care what happened to Britain.

[California Patriot]

Bash away, my FRiend. Anti-British attitudes are not at all typical of Americans, but they deserve bashing on the relatively rare occasions when they’re asserted. There is no excuse for them except a gross ignorance of history, and people grossly ignorant of history shouldn’t be posting on this site.

Long live the Queen!

[California Patriot]

Go away. Your anti-British insults are an embarrassment to FReep.

[California Patriot]

British people, like Americans but probably more so, are subjected to a great deal of leftist propaganda. And they have been for even longer than we have. Much of it is even further left than ours.

[Rikstir]

;)

[VxH]

>>sorry pal, I aint reading extra stuff,
Tsk Tsk. Ignorant AND lazy. Suite yourself.

[VxH]

>>sympathizing with Nazism

I didn’t say he sympathized with Nazism.

I presented him as an example of, as you put it, “shrugging off the Nazi threat”.

Peace in our time!

[VxH]

>>The anti-UK posters

Not anti-UK, just anti-Royalty. There is a difference.

[Grizzled Bear]

No beef BBQ ?

---

The queen has trouble with spicy food. I bet she’d enjoy a nice brisket with a mild dry-rub!

[California Patriot]

Being anti-royalty is an insult to the UK. Whether they have a queen or king is no business of ours, even in terms of comment. In addition, some people are not just anti-royalty but actually indicated anti-British attitudes. I have no tolerance for that.

[Vanders9]

True freedom is freedom to dissent. Remember that when some Yanks burn the stars and stripes.

We don’t get uppity at Brits dissing our monarchy. Just dang foreigners!

[Rikstir]

cheers man.

good to hear. As you say, there is historical precedent in the close relationships between all english speaking nations. Its understandable that the US and UK are close allies, as the interests and methods are similar.

We have fought wars with each other, but not for some 200 years now, and so I hope that that chapter of history can be put to bed. We are, in this age, trying to write a new one with strong allies and a common cause.