LONDON (AP) — President Barack Obama and wife Michelle Obama were welcomed to Buckingham Palace in grand royal style Tuesday 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 Tuesday
before the palace arrival ceremony, but will not attend a lavish banquet being
held in the Obamas' honor Tuesday night.
The queen held a private lunch for the Obamas at
the palace, and was then to give them a tour of her private picture gallery.
The queen picked out pieces from her collection that she thought might interest
the Obamas, including items from the president's home state of Hawaii and an
exhibit about Abraham Lincoln, the former U.S. president Obama greatly admires.
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.
There was no avoiding domestic issues, either. From
Europe Obama was monitoring fallout from the massive tornado that struck
Missouri, and before meeting the queen Tuesday he announced plans to tour the
damage on Sunday after he returns to the states.
While Obama will tackle prickly foreign policy
matters in the coming days, the opening rounds of his four-country European
tour are all about the personal politics that made him so beloved on this
continent as a presidential candidate and in the early days of his term in
office.
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.
In London, the Obamas were fully embracing the
tradition and history of the royal family, which is experiencing a resurgence
in popularity following Prince William's wedding.
A palace official said the queen was closely
involved and interested in the planning of this state visit, a grand display of
royal pageantry that only happens about twice a year for a world leader of the
queen's choosing.
Obama was also to meet briefly with British Prime
Minister David Cameron on Tuesday, though their most substantial talks will
come the following day, when Afghanistan, Libya and the global economy are all
on the agenda.
Obama's mission, in part, is to reassure Britain
and the rest of Europe that the traditional U.S. allies still have a central
role in a U.S. foreign policy that has become increasingly focused on Asia and
other emerging markets.
"I think this is, in part, a way to bring back
the special bonds of this relationship," said Heather Conley, director of
the Europe program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and
International Studies.
In a joint editorial for Tuesday's edition of the
British newspaper The Times of London, Obama and Cameron cast the relationship
between the U.S. and Britain as one that makes the world more secure and more
prosperous.
"That is the key to our relationship. Yes, it
is founded on a deep emotional connection, by sentiment and ties of people and
culture. But the reason it thrives, the reason why this is such a natural
partnership, is because it advances our common interests and shared
values," the leaders wrote.
Still, the two allies don't always agree on every
issue, a reality sure to expose itself in talks on national security and
foreign policy. When it comes to the NATO-led bombing campaign in Libya, for
example, some British lawmakers have expressed concern that European countries,
including Britain, have carried an unfair share of the burden of a mission the
U.S. has made clear it does not want to run.
After his two-day stop in Britain, Obama will head
to France for a meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized nations and then
to Poland, a schedule the White House says the president intends to keep
despite the approaching ash cloud.
Obama tried to get to Poland last year for the
funeral of the country's president. But that trip with canceled because of an
ash cloud from a different Icelandic volcano.
Associated Press writers David Stringer and Nancy
Benac contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/Tobt Melville Pool)
