The White House is atwitter over a visit on Monday by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. Left, one of the elegant gold-rimmed invitations, hand-penned by a calligrapher and then engraved.
Workers cleaned the floor of the East Room on Friday for the queen's visit. Aides say the state dinner is the social event of the entire Bush presidency.
A fresh coat of paint is applied to the Truman Balcony. The dinner will be closely watched by the social elite for its collision of cultures — Texas swagger meets British prim.
Aides to the first lady shared a few dos and don’ts in anticipation of the event. For women, curtseying is acceptable but not required. One does not shake the queen’s hand unless the queen offers hers first.
Amy Zantzinger, the new White House social secretary, with a screen that shows table arrangements for the state dinner. Ms. Zantzinger was not swamped with requests. Anybody who had not already received an invitation apparently knew that it would be gauche to ask.
“Wet Paint” signs were everywhere. Inside, at Mrs. Bush’s direction, a panel of photographs of earlier royal visits was on display, including one of President Gerald R. Ford dancing with the queen in 1976.
The floral shop was frantic, with seven florists arranging centerpieces for every public room in the house: cream-colored roses and white lilacs for the State Dining Room, pale pink roses for the Green Room, pale yellow roses in the Diplomatic Room and classic red roses for the Red Room.
The visit has brought a sense of giddiness to a White House worn down by the Iraq war and fights with Democrats in Congress. Even some bipartisanship was in the air. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat known for her elegance, will attend the dinner.
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THE White House is going all-out to welcome the Queen, with preparations underway for the most lavish state reception of President George W. Bush's time in office.
The monarch and her husband Prince Philip will be greeted on the south lawn of the White House Monday with a 21-gun salute and the national anthems of the two countries.
As the White House polished its best china and crystal tableware, 7,000 guests including diplomats, members of the US Congress and cabinet and other officials chose their grandest outfits in which to attend the ceremony.
Only the most formal dress code of white-tie and tails will do for the five-course state dinner in the queen's honor hosted by the president and First Lady Laura Bush Monday evening.
"It will be closely watched by the social elite for its collision of cultures - Texas swagger meets British prim,'' The New York Times predicted.
Bush has hosted eight official visits during his six years as president - including by leaders from Poland, Kenya, Japan and China - but it is the first time he has applied the white-tie treatment.
"The United States has no closer ally and friend than Great Britain,'' the White House said in a statement detailing the tightly-coordinated protocol for the royal visit.
Arrangements for the dinner were being handled by the office of Laura Bush, who was said to be behind the idea to decree such formal attire, US media reported.
The White House said the tables for the dinner would be adorned with "historically significant pieces'' from its collection, including gold-rimmed china, the president's "house crystal'' and English vermeil gilded silver.
Among the 134 guests will be Vice-President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and General Peter Pace, chairman of the US military joint chiefs of staff, the White House said.
Lampposts near the White House were festooned with Union Jacks and US flags ahead of her arrival.
The White House also said it had coordinated closely with the State Department's Office of Protocol, which gives advice for state visits including "the proper way to address foreign dignitaries and visitors'' and the dietary preferences of visitors.
The Queen "doesn't like spicy food,'' newspapers quoted Anita McBride, Laura Bush's chief of staff, as saying.
After seeing a historic English settlement in Virginia and a classic horse race in Kentucky, the royal couple touched down at Andrews Air Force Base near the capital on Sunday, according to a schedule from the Royal Family.
The Queen last came to the United States in 1991 when Bush's father was president. Her first visit had been as a 31-year-old monarch in 1957, when she met then president Dwight Eisenhower.
Seriously guys, egg and chips and horse racing on the telly is fine as well.
That's the right way to write it in America, OK? 
