Obamas get royal welcome
LONDON — President Barack Obama and wife Michelle Obama were welcomed to Buckingham Palace in grand royal style today by Queen Elizabeth II as they began their official state visit to Britain, a rare honor for a U.S. president.
The queen and her husband Prince Philip greeted the Obamas on a sunny, windy afternoon in London. Following a private tour of the palace, the two couples emerged on the ceremonial steps of the West Terrace for a 41-gun salute.
The queen, dressed in a powder blue suit and matching hat, stood with the president, as ranks of Scots Guards in red jackets and tall hats played the Star-Spangled Banner in honor of the American president and his wife.
A longer 62-gun salute at the Tower of London could be heard throughout the city, heralding the Obamas’ arrival.
The Obamas will spend two nights at the palace as guests of the queen, staying in a six-room suite last used by Prince William and Kate Middleton on their wedding night. The newlyweds, now known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, had a brief, private meeting with the Obamas today before the palace arrival ceremony, but will not attend a lavish banquet being held in the Obamas’ honor Tuesday night.
The Obamas were to lunch privately with the queen, then head to London’s famous Westminster Abbey for a wreath laying.
The president and first lady began the day greeted by Prince Charles and his wife Camilla at Winfield House, the stately mansion in Regent’s Park that is the residence of the U.S. ambassador. The Obamas stayed there Monday night after leaving Ireland early instead of spending the night in Dublin because of safety concerns over a volcanic ash cloud being blown toward Britain from Iceland.
While in Ireland, Obama embraced the touch of Irish in his family history, drinking a pint of Guinness with a distant cousin in the hamlet of Moneygall and delivering a rousing speech on the ties between the U.S. and Ireland before tens of thousands crammed into the center of Dublin.
