Bush puts on rare glamour for Queen Elizabeth

By Tony Czuczka May 8, 2007, 0:34 GMT

US President George W. Bush (C) and First Lady Laura Bush (L) greet Britain\'s Queen Elizabeth II prior to a State Dinner on the North Portico of the White House in Washington, D.C. 07 May 2007. The Queen is visiting the United States to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown settlement, the first permanent English settlement in America. EPA/SHAWN THEW

Washington - From the fine White House china to the first lady's custom-made Oscar de la Renta gown, US President George W Bush readied a rare display of glitter and glamour for Queen Elizabeth II.

American caviar, sole or lamb and California wine were on the menu for Monday's state dinner, the most festive White House gala since the man known for his Texas informality became president in 2001.

'I know the American people are thrilled that she's here in the United States,' US first lady Laura Bush said of the queen. 'It's a happy occasion.'

Thirteen royally decorated tables were set up in the White House state dining room for the invited 134 guests, most of them US administration officials, diplomats and business executives. Violinist Itzhak Perlman was headlining the entertainment.

Bush has hosted four state dinners for foreign leaders, but never a super-formal white-tie dinner like the one prepared for the 81- year-old British monarch and Prince Philip.

The pomp offered Bush a distraction from sparring with a hostile Congress and the war in Iraq, which has depressed his approval ratings to the lowest for a US president in a generation.

Yet the heavy dose of ceremony, including a 21-gun salute welcome on the White House lawn, does not come naturally to a president who likes to retire early and relax on his Texas ranch.

He apparently needed some prodding from his wife and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

'I don't know how thrilled he was about this,' Laura Bush told ABC television. 'We did, sort of, have to convince him a little bit. All of our guests, I'm sure, are having to go rent white ties.'

Nothing was left to chance: White House chef Cristeta Comerford, the first woman to hold the post, tested all the dishes on a group of US lawmakers whom Bush had over for dinner a few weeks ago, she said.

The dinner was the formal highlight of the queen's fifth US visit, which included stops at the Kentucky Derby horse race and at Jamestown to celebrate 400 years since settlers founded the first British colony in the New World.

Staying in Washington Tuesday, the royal couple planned to visit a NASA space flight centre, a children's hospital and a new World War II memorial on the National Mall before hosting the Bushes for dinner at the British embassy.

Whoops and cheers went up from a crowd of up to 7,000 guests as Bush received Elizabeth on the White House lawn Monday morning with warm words and an elaborate ceremony celebrating US-British ties.

But the president also got a laugh when he fumbled his lines while listing previous official exchanges between the Elizabeth and the US.

'You helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17 - in 1976,' Bush said.

The queen shot him a look, prompting Bush to quip: 'She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child.'

He praised the queen as 'a good person, a strong leader and a great ally,' and evoked US-British military cooperation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Elizabeth, wearing a white jacket with a black scalloped collar and cuffs and a black-and-white hat, took a broader view of what she portrayed as strong, deep ties.

'A state visit provides us with a brief opportunity to step back from our current preoccupations to reflect on the very essence of our relationship,' she said.