Did I read somewhere that the Bush clan is distantly related to the Windsor royals? One would think Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth would not be amused, based on Dubya's gaffe-tacular performance during their public meeting today.
Both Mr Bush and the Queen addressed the crowd as the royal couple approached the end of a six-day US visit that included ceremonies marking the 400th anniversary of the British settlement in Jamestown, Virginia, and the Kentucky Derby.
Mr Bush noted the Queen's long history of dealing with successive American Governments, just barely stopping himself before dating her to 1776, the year the 13 British colonies declared their independence from Britain.
Elizabeth has occupied the British throne for 55 years and is 81.
"The American people are proud to welcome your majesty back to the United States, a nation you've come to know very well. After all you've dined with 10 U.S. presidents. You've helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17 - in 1976," Bush said.
Hm ... terrible pity those etiquette lessons didn't take... There's a quite fancy dinner on tap for tonight:
It will also be closely watched by Washington's social elite for its clash of cultures: Texas swagger meets British prim. Dinner attire is white tie and tails - the first, and probably the only, white-tie affair of the Bush administration - and the president, not a white-tie kind of guy, was said to be none too keen on that, until Mrs. Bush put her foot down.
"I think Mrs. Bush is thrilled to have a white tie dinner, and we'll leave it at that," Amy Zantzinger, the new White House social secretary, said Friday as she arranged a seating chart for 134 on a huge computerized screen behind her desk in the East Wing.
... oh, and how about this for awkward:
Zantzinger said she was not swamped with requests; anybody who hadn't already received one of the elegant gold-rimmed invitations (hand-penned by a calligrapher, then engraved) apparently knew it would be gauche to ask. Still, the exclusivity has made for some awkward moments, as when the social secretary ran into the first President Bush in the hallway of the West Wing the other day.
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
