Royal Trip Starting On Somber Note

Charles, Camilla Starting 8-Day U.S. Visit At Ground Zero

(CBS)  Prince Charles and wife Camilla begin their eight-day visit to the United States Tuesday with a stop at Ground Zero in New York.

The Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith points out that the victims of 9-11 came from many lands besides the U.S., with Britain among them, losing 67 souls that day.

The royal couple is coming to Ground Zero straight from the airport to pay tribute to all the victims, on hallowed ground.

Charles Wolf lost his wife, Katherine, who was in the north tower. He watched it all on TV.

"It's like, bam, your wife got killed in a car crash, and there happened to be cameras rolling at the time in the background. As soon as Flight 11 entered Tower One, that's when Katherine got vaporized."

Her remains were never found.

Later Tuesday, the prince will dedicate a memorial garden in a square near Ground Zero to Katherine and the 66 other British victims. The site, designed by the team that landscaped his Highgrove estate in England, is slated to open in 2006.

Says Wolf, "It's a wonderful way to bring an honest part of Britain to the U.S., and it's a way to help me remember Katherine, because I don't have a grave for her."

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Can the royal couple win America over? Their friends back home hope so.

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Charles and Camilla's tour of Ground Zero is high on the royal priority list, notes Hello magazine royal editor Judy Wade: "It's something that everybody who comes to New York wants to see because, until you actually see it, you can't take it all in. …It's like a huge scar on the landscape. Its sort of, New York, which is so full of tall buildings all together, suddenly there's this open space. And … it hits you, the impact of what happened there."

After what will no doubt be an emotional visit to Ground Zero and the memorial garden, Charles heads to the United Nations. Tuesday evening, he and the duchess will attend a fancy event at the Museum of Modern Art.

Sarah Jessica Parker, Robert De Niro and Jerry Seinfeld are invited.

Other cities the royal couple will visit include Washington, San Francisco and New Orleans.

It's their first official trip abroad as husband and wife, and his first official U.S. visit since 1994.