A White House Dinner Fit For A Queen

Elizabeth II And Guests Dine On Caviar And Lamb At White House

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WASHINGTON, May 8, 2007 | by Judy Faber

(CBS/AP)  Washington turned out adoring schoolchildren and ladies in hats for Queen Elizabeth II's visit. The White House, too, laid on special touches at President George W. Bush's first-ever white-tie state dinner to honor America's closest ally and make the queen feel welcome.

The centuries-old vermeil flatware and candelabras came from a London silversmith. A made-of-sugar replica of the queen's 1953 coronation rose graced the cake. English farmhouse cheeses accompanied the salad course.

And the traditional "special guest" invited only at the last minute was sure to be of interest to an avid horse enthusiast such as the queen: Calvin Borel, the jockey who rode Street Sense to victory in the Kentucky Derby this weekend with the royals in attendance.

"It's just like winning the Kentucky Derby — it might even be better," Borel said as he arrived for the dinner.

On the other hand, there was the president suggesting Queen Elizabeth was over 230 years old.

The president's slip of the tongue during morning welcoming speeches was inadvertent, of course, and quickly smoothed over with humor. But it was not exactly the flawless effort Bush had hoped would erase memories of the "talking hat" episode during the queen's last U.S. visit. (In 1991, during Bush's father's administration, a too-tall lectern left the audience able to see only the queen's hat behind microphones.)

The queen, a sprightly 81, gave an embarrassed Bush a gracious nod after he suggested she had celebrated the United States' founding in 1776. He meant to say she had attended 1976 bicentennial festivities.

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Photos: White House State Dinner

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"She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child," the president quipped, earning a reserved chuckle from his guest.

Laura Bush made her own minor calendar mistake. She flubbed the year that she and her husband attended the state dinner hosted by President George H.W. Bush in honor of the queen, saying it was in 1993.

The president and the queen took markedly different approaches to their formal remarks during a South Lawn arrival ceremony attended by thousands.

Bush focused on the partnership between the United States and Britain in Iraq and against terrorism. In just four minutes, he mentioned "freedom" and "liberty" seven times. "Your majesty, I appreciate your leadership during these times of danger and decision," he said.

By contrast, the queen said her fifth journey to the United States over 50 years was an occasion to "step back from our current preoccupations."

The queen's grandson Prince Harry, now an officer in the British Army, is about to be deployed to Iraq. But queens don't do politics; they do diplomatic niceties, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.

"I know a lot of people on both sides of the Atlantic would love it if she said, 'look my grandson is in danger – like a whole bunch of other young men – of losing his life, but that's not the kind of thing she ever says," says British political columnist Simon Hoggart

In the leaders' toasts at dinner, they took opposite tacks. Bush praised her for a reign that has "deepened our friendship and strengthened our alliance," while the British monarch talked of the threat of terror, problems like climate change and the likelihood of occasional disagreement between allies.

© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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