Her Majesty the Queen has arrived in Washington and received a Kings er Queens welcome.
Europeans consider Americans uncouth and completely uncivilized. This makes the Americans go all out to prove that they are capable of being cultured and it showed in the welcome of Queen Elizabeth received at the White House. President Bush has looked much better in blue Jeans and cowboy hat than his tux and tails but international pomp is often needed to hide deep cultural differences.

Truth be said most Britons are angry at President Bush at pulling Tony Blair and the British army into conflict in Iraq. They feel as many Americans do that the entire conflict was mostly unnecessary and counter productive. The British have never really accepted the idea that they have ceased at being the dominant power in the world.  The fact that the sun never set on the British Empire was a source of pride for Britons. The reality of limited influence on world affairs and being the Kid brother of the Americans to be bullied and told what to do kill the British.

Exacerbating all this is the fact that that Prince Harry the third in line to the British throne is to be assigned to Iraq if he hasn’t been assigned already. The British are very nervous about this and are again blaming the Americans for creating a situation where a member of the royal family will be in harms way.

The Queens visit and her grand tour will try to hide all this animosity, it is mostly cosmetic however