queen elizabeth visits to united states

Tracing Queen Elizabeth’s steps through the U.S.

By Danielle Paquette | Sep 10, 2022

During her seven-decade reign, Queen Elizabeth II visited more than two dozen cities across the United States. She chatted with Girl Scouts, football players, presidents and Frank Sinatra . She cheered on race horses in Kentucky. She requested a ham sandwich with the crust removed in Texas. She sported a tweed skirt-suit in Yosemite National Park.

Wherever England’s longest-serving monarch went, photographers followed, capturing generations of Americans in the throes of Royal fever (and more than a few signature handbags ).

Oct. 17, 1957 | Washington

Queen Elizabeth II heads to the White House as crowd's line Washington streets to see the royal monarch.

Oct. 18, 1957 | Washington

Queen Elizabeth II accepts a doll for Princess Anne from 7-year-old Pamela Springmann during a visit at Children's Hospital.

Queen Elizabeth II and Vice President Richard Nixon tilt their heads for a better view of the oil paintings on the interior of the Capitol dome during a tour.

Oct. 19, 1957 | College Park, Md.

Co-captains of North Carolina and Maryland meet Queen Elizabeth II before the start of a game.

Oct. 21, 1957 | New York

Queen Elizabeth II, wearing a mink stole, and Prince Philip, standing next to a viewing telescope, view New York City from the observatory roof of the Empire State Building. The Queen said, "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Queen Elizabeth II, in a plastic domed car, rides up lower Broadway through a shower of ticker tape and confetti during procession to City Hall.

Queen Elizabeth II addresses the United Nations General Assembly.

Her Majesty kicked off a seven-city tour of the nation’s east in 1976 with a stop in Philadelphia, where she unveiled a gift for the City of Brotherly Love: a Bicentennial Bell to celebrate 200 years of American independence from English rule. (The bell remains in storage .)

July 7, 1976 | Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip walk down the ramp of their aircraft near Washington.

July 7, 1976 | Philadelphia

Queen Elizabeth II is greeted by the Girl Scouts of America.

July 8, 1976 | Washington

Queen Elizabeth II arrives at the U.S. Capitol.

On her New York leg, Elizabeth was spotted squeezing through city throngs, underscoring the lighter security protocols of yesteryear.

July 10, 1976 | New York

Thousands surround Queen Elizabeth II as she walks from the Federal Building up Wall Street to Trinity Church with Mayor Abraham Beame.

J Walter Green

July 10, 1976 | Charlottesville, Va.

Queen Elizabeth II tours Thomas Jefferson's Monticello home.

July 11, 1976 | Boston

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip wave to spectators below from the balcony of the Old State House before the Queen descended to street level to address the crowd. The location is the site of the Boston massacre, an event which led to the Revolutionary War.

Elizabeth returned in 1983 for a trek through the West Coast. She visited a Southern California retirement home, led a champagne toast with then-president Ronald Reagan and absorbed the mountain views at Yosemite National Park.

Feb. 26, 1983 | San Diego

Queen Elizabeth II reviews the U.S. Marine Corps honor guard as she arrives for a State visit.

Feb. 28, 1983 | Sierra Madre

Queen Elizabeth II shares a smile with 97-year-old Sibyl Jones-Bateman after the monarch was presented with a bouquet during tour of the British Home retirement community near Los Angeles.

March 3, 1983 | San Francisco

President Ronald Reagan and Queen Elizabeth II raise their glasses in a toast during a state dinner at the M. H. de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park.

Ed Reinke/AP

March 5, 1983 | Yosemite, Calif.

Park superintendent Bob Binnewies points out highlights from Inspiration Point to Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Yosemite National Park.

The queen, a horse racing enthusiast, landed in Kentucky five times between 1984 and 2007, according to the Courier-Journal . She was known to turn up at horse farms, admiring the mares and foals.

May 23, 1986 | Versailles, Ky.

Queen Elizabeth II puts out her hand to her filly foal by the mare Christchurch and Alydar during a visit to Lane's End Farm.

May 27, 1986 | Lexington, Ky.

Queen Elizabeth II exchanges pleasantries with a line of Fayette County (Ky.) and Kentucky State Troopers on the tarmac as prepares to depart following a five-day visit.

Amy Sancetta/Associated Press

May 26, 1989 | Lexington, Ky.

Queen Elizabeth II is welcomed by a child upon her arrival during a private visit to the U.S.

David Banks

During her 1991 visit, Elizabeth addressed Congress. Lawmakers gave the monarch a standing ovation, while opponents of British occupation in Northern Ireland protested outside the Capitol.

May 14, 1991 | Washington

Queen Elizabeth II and President George H.W. Bush review the troops after the Queen's arrival at the White House.

May 15, 1991 | Washington

Queen Elizabeth II holds flowers presented to her at Drake Place, a housing project.

May 16, 1991 | Washington

Queen Elizabeth II is applauded by Vice President Dan Quayle and House Speaker Thomas Foley before her address to the U.S. Congress.

Doug Mills/AP

Elizabeth’s last U.S. state visit came in 2007, when she arrived for the 400th anniversary of England establishing its first permanent North American settlement in Jamestown, Va.

She dined with then-president George W. Bush, watched the Kentucky Derby through bulletproof glass and checked out Washington memorials.

May 4, 2007 | Lexington, Ky.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip look out of the window of an SUV as they leave the Bluegrass Airport after arriving.

Morry Gash/AP

May 5, 2007 | Louisville, Ky.

Queen Elizabeth II chats with Prince Philip as Susan Lucci (black hat) looks on at the 133rd Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

Rob Carr/AP

May 7, 2007, | Washington

President Bush smiles at Queen Elizabeth II before the start of a State Dinner at the White House.

Evan Vucci/AP

May 8, 2007 | Washington

Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. Park Service Director Mary Bomar walk around the National World War II Memorial during a visit by the Queen and Duke.

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images

May 8, 2007 | Greenbelt, Md.

Queen Elizabeth II accepts flowers from children while walking during a visit to the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Larry Downing

Elizabeth made her final stop on American soil in 2010 to address the United Nations General Assembly. “I believe I was last here in 1957,” she deadpanned to her New York audience.

July 6, 2010 | New York

Queen Elizabeth II leaves a wreath of flowers at the site of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attack during her visit.

Lucas Jackson

Queen Elizabeth II speaks at the United Nations Headquarters.

Seth Wenig/AP

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This Is How Many Times Queen Elizabeth Has Visited America

During her long reign, Queen Elizabeth has met leaders from all around the world, including 13 out of the last 14 U.S. presidents , with Lyndon Johnson being the only commander in chief to miss out on a meeting with the queen (per Town & Country ). "In almost every instance, the Queen has also inspired admiration and respect. These are the qualities that underpin her unofficial title as her government's 'secret weapon,'" noted author Matthew Dennison in a piece for  The Telegraph .

Presidents to have visited the queen in her home country include Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, but Queen Elizabeth has been a guest across the pond six times throughout the years. Elizabeth was not yet queen during her first visit to the United States when she was 25 years old in 1951. She and her husband , Prince Phillip, made the trip because her father, Queen George VI, was too sick to meet with Harry Truman in Washington D.C. The young couple clearly made a favorable impression on the president and his wife, with Truman stating "never before have we had such a wonderful young couple, who have so completely captured the hearts of all of us" (per Time ).

Four years after she became queen, Elizabeth returned to the United States in 1957, this time to meet with Dwight D. Eisenhower during the Cold War . She wouldn't be back on American soil until 1976 when she traveled to see Gerald Ford for the Bicentennial Celebration.

Queen Elizabeth has managed to charm every American president

Queen Elizabeth's last three visits to the United States came in 1983 to visit President Ronald Reagan at his California ranch; in 1991, when she met with George H.W. Bush and planted a tree on the South Lawn of the White House; and finally in 2007, when the queen commemorated the 400th anniversary of the English settlement in Jamestown during George W. Bush's presidency (per the White House Historical Association ).

Whether in the U.K. or the U.S., each of her meetings with American leaders has one thing in common: Queen Elizabeth has impressed every president. Barack Obama has called her "truly one of my favorite people" (per Time ), while Joe Biden boasted during his June 2021 visit to Windsor Castle that the queen was "extremely gracious, which is not surprising" (via  Town & Country ). He added that "she reminded me of my mother, in terms of the look of her and just the generosity." 

And even Donald Trump had kind words to say about the royal, stating, "If you think of it, for so many years she has represented her country, she has really never made a mistake. You don't see, like, anything embarrassing. She is just an incredible woman" (via  Business Insider ).

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Queen Elizabeth II and the White House

Beginning in 1951, Queen Elizabeth II cultivated a seventy-year friendship with the White House, visiting the United States several times as both princess and queen. Her visits have included four State Visits, five State Dinners, and two unofficial visits during her reign. In seventy years, Queen Elizabeth II participated in many important White House traditions and met more U.S. presidents than any other head of state. In this collection, explore the decades-long history of Queen Elizabeth II and the White House.

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The White House and Queen Elizabeth II

The White House and Queen Elizabeth II shared a long history of friendship and diplomacy. Queen Elizabeth II’s reign spanned 14 presidential administrations.

Queen Elizabeth II

As the longest-reigning British monarch in history, Queen Elizabeth II met with more than a dozen sitting American presidents. Explore the gallery to learn more about these historic moments!

New Issue of White House History Quarterly, “Queen Elizabeth II: The Royal Visits” Available on Pre-Order Today

The White House Historical Association (WHHA) today released the 64th issue of its award-winning magazine, White House History Quarterly. Queen Elizabeth II visited the United States as princess and queen, officially and privately, eight times, from 1951 to 2010, never failing to make front page news. She has met more U.S. presidents than any other head of state, thirteen of the

Examples of State Dinners Throughout History

December 22, 1874: First State Dinner for a foreign head of state King David Kalakaua of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Hosted by President Ulysses S. Grant, the king had royal food testers to sample the more than 20-course White House dinner. 1902: The Roosevelt renovation included a major expansion of the State Dining Room from entertaining approximately 40 guests to the accommodation of 120 people.

Reagan's Ranch in the Heavens

Commonly known as “Ranch in the Sky,” Rancho del Cielo was President Ronald Reagan’s rural property in the Santa Ynez Mountains just outside Santa Barbara, California.1 The Pacific Ocean, just a few miles to the south, can be seen from the peaks that nestle the small ranch house.2 It was among these mountains that President Reagan found the perfect reprie

Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day": Entertainment

The Roosevelts loved to entertain. During their thirteen-year stay in the White House, they used the mansion's grand setting to host receptions for congressmen, senators, governors, justices of the Supreme Court, foreign dignitaries, and even royalty. Less formal affairs included simple lunches or dinners with family and friends, intimate cocktail parties, teas, and game nights, as well as impromptu skits

Marian Anderson Performs at the White House

One of the most memorable performances in White House history was Marian Anderson’s rendition of Schubert’s "Ave Maria" as the culmination of a gala "Evening of American Music" presented by Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt in 1939. The entertainment was planned for a state visit by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of England. Anderson’s powerful voice soared that evenin

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The United Kingdom and Ireland in the White House

For over two centuries, the United Kingdom and Ireland have enjoyed a relationship with the United States unparalleled in world history. The White House Historical Association, together with the British Embassy and the Embassy of Ireland, is illuminating these remarkable historic connections by organizing a full-day symposium titled The United Kingdom and Ireland in the White House: A Conversation on

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Here’s How Every Meeting Between the Queen and a U.S. President Went

G iven Queen Elizabeth II’s record as the world’s longest-reigning monarch before her death on Sept. 8, she had met a huge number of world leaders. Notably she met 13 of the 14 U.S. presidents who have held office since her coronation in 1952—all except Lyndon B. Johnson, who only made state visits to Asia during his time in office.

The most recent U.S. president to visit the U.K. and meet Queen Elizabeth II was President Biden, in June 2021. President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden met the Queen at Windsor Castle where they had afternoon tea at the end of the G7 leaders’ summit.

The Queen also met President Donald Trump in 2019 at Buckingham Palace where he was also hosted for a state dinner during an official state visit to Britain. There were protests in several cities condemning the U.K.’s red-carpet treatment of the controversial president.

Below, a timeline of what happened during the Queen’s previous meetings with American leaders.

Harry Truman – October 31, 1951

Elizabeth was not yet queen when, at the age of 25, the princess first met an American president. Harry Truman and his wife Bess hosted Elizabeth and Prince Philip on a two-day visit to Washington D.C. Acting on behalf of her father King George VI, who was gravely ill at the time, Elizabeth gave Truman an ornate 18th-century ‘over mantle’ to hang above a fireplace in the White House, as Pathé newsreel from the time shows. The president said that, while he had received many guests in Washington, “never before have we had such a wonderful young couple, who have so completely captured the hearts of all of us.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower – October 17, 1957

Four years after she was crowned, Queen Elizabeth made her first state visit to the U.S., midway through Dwight D. Eisenhower’s two terms as president. The visit came during the Cold War—a crucial time for the U.S.-U.K alliance. British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was also in town for urgent talks with the American leadership. The Queen, though, found time for more lighthearted events, as chronicled by LIFE Magazine , including a state dinner, a visit to Jamestown, Va.—site of the first British settlement in America—and her first American college football game. She also met former President Herbert Hoover at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Two years later Elizabeth hosted Eisenhower at Balmoral.

John F. Kennedy – June 15, 1961

Half a million people turned out to greet President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline when they arrived in London for a visit in 1961, just a few months after Kennedy’s inauguration. Netflix series The Crown recreated the visit in its second season, making much of the First Lady’s alleged criticisms of the Queen’s old-fashioned style. The royals hosted the Kennedys at a lavish state dinner at Buckingham Palace and the President later wrote to the Queen saying he would “always cherish the memory of that delightful evening.”

Richard Nixon – February 15, 1969

The Queen had already met Nixon in 1957 when he was Vice President under Eisenhower. But their first meeting as two heads of state took place in 1969 when Nixon made an informal visit to the U.K., shortly after taking office. The Queen and Prince Philip hosted him at Buckingham Palace and exchanged signed photos of themselves, while a television crew captured the occasion for a documentary called the Royal Family, broadcast later that year.

Gerald Ford – July 17, 1976

Shortly after the 200th anniversary of America’s declaration of independence from Britain , the Queen came to Washington to celebrate the continuing relationship between the two countries with a state dinner hosted by Gerald Ford and his wife Betty. The pair shared a dance and the President promised the Queen , “the United States [has] never forgotten its British heritage.” First Lady Betty Ford later wrote in her memoir that “the Queen was easy to deal with” and “If I hadn’t kept mixing up Your Highness and Your Majesty (he’s His Highness, she’s Her Majesty) I’d give myself four stars for the way that visit went off.”

Jimmy Carter – May 7, 1977

A year after her visit for the American Independence Bicentennial, the Queen hosted President Jimmy Carter at Buckingham Palace for a dinner with other heads of state during a NATO summit. Carter famously broke royal protocol by kissing the Queen Mother on the lips. She was apparently mortified , saying “Nobody has done that since my husband died.”

Ronald Reagan – June 7, 1982

In 1982, traveling with his wife Nancy, Ronald Reagan became the first American president to stay overnight at Windsor Castle—which Trump is set to visit after spending the night at the U.S. ambassador’s home in central London. It was the first of three trips the Reagans made to see the Queen in the U.K., and she also visited their ranch near Santa Barbara, Ca., in 1983. Reagan wrote in his memoir that the 1982 trip was a “fairytale visit” and one of the most “fun” moments of his presidency. He said the highlight was horseback riding with Elizabeth while Nancy and Philip rode in a horse-drawn carriage. “I must admit, the Queen is quite an accomplished horsewoman,” he wrote.

George H.W. Bush – June 1, 1989

George H.W. Bush first met the Queen in 1989 in London. During the visit, Bush also met Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who, he wrote disparagingly in his memoir , gave him “a lecture on freedom.” Elizabeth, meanwhile, took the Bushes on a tour of Buckingham Palace . The Queen reciprocated the visit with a trip to Washington two years later.

Bill Clinton – June 4, 1994

President Clinton made several visits to the U.K. during his presidency, in part because of his involvement in the peace process in Northern Ireland. He first met the Queen at a banquet honoring the 50th anniversary of World War II’s D-Day in the city of Portsmouth, southern England. Six years later the Queen hosted Bill, Hilary and Chelsea at Buckingham Palace for tea.

George W. Bush – November 21, 2003

George W. Bush first met the Queen over lunch at Buckingham Palace during a six-day European tour in 2001 and in 2003 became the first U.S. president to make an official state visit to the U.K . It was the Queen’s most controversial meeting with an American president—until Trump. To coincide with Bush’s visit in November, around 100,000 people took to the streets to protest the Iraq War , reportedly costing the U.K. millions in security spending during the three-day visit. The demonstration culminated with protesters toppling an effigy of Bush, recalling scenes of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad six months earlier. George and Laura Bush were treated to a 41-gun salute and later attended a state banquet at Buckingham Palace.

Barack Obama – May 24, 2011

Barack and Michelle Obama met Elizabeth and Philip on a state visit in 2011. The Obamas presented her with a set of memorabilia and photographs from her parents’ trip to the U.S. in 1939. In return, she gave them a collection of letters exchanged between previous monarchs and U.S. presidents. Looking at the letters relating to the American Revolution, Obama joked, “That was only a temporary blip in the relationship.” The Obamas met the Queen twice more and on her 90th birthday the president said , “She is truly one of my favorite people.”

Donald Trump – July 13, 2018 and June 3, 2019

President Trump first met the Queen on an official visit in 2018, when they had tea at Windsor Castle. He largely avoided London, where tens of thousands of protesters turned out to criticize his rhetoric and policy on issues including migration, gender and LGBTQ rights.

On his 2019 visit, the President and first Lady spent more time with the Royals than they did the year before — though once again there were protests in a number of parts of the country. They flew by helicopter to Buckingham Palace and were greeted by the Queen, Prince Charles and Camila Parker-Bowles. The couple shook hands with the Queen before heading inside for a private lunch.

President Trump and First Lady Melania also dined with the royals and some 170 guests with ties to the U.S. in the grand ballroom of Buckingham Palace. Outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May attended the dinner but leaders of the U.K.’s main opposition parties — Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn and the Liberal Democrats’ Vince Cable — declined to attend.

Joe Biden – June 13, 2021

President Biden met the Queen at Windsor Castle along with First Lady Jill Biden. Their visit included a Guard of Honor and afternoon tea with the Queen. Their visit was at the end of the G7 Summit in Cornwall. The President and First Lady also met the Queen a few days earlier at a reception for G7 leaders.

President Biden said they had spoken about Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. He also said that he told her she reminded him of his mother.

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When Queen Elizabeth Visited Boston: Redcoats, the Royal Wave and American Cheering

British soldiers dressed in the red coats that were infamous during the time of the american revolution stood once again by massachusetts' old state house when the queen visited in 1976, by asher klein • published september 8, 2022 • updated on september 8, 2022 at 4:14 pm.

In her long time on the throne of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II visited Boston once, for an event marking a very crucial event in American history.

For her third visit to the United States, Elizabeth attended the Bicentennial ceremonies in 1976, and ended her trip where the country began: in Boston.

Images from the time show her smiling as she walked through the streets with then-Mayor Kevin White. British soldiers dressed in the red coats that were infamous during the time of the American Revolution stood once again by Massachusetts' Old State House.

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Tens of thousands of people came out to see Elizabeth and Prince Philip, The Boston Globe reported at the time.

"Everytime the queen smiled or let free one of her white gloved hands, barely bending the wrist fluttering regal waves, people responded in turn with beaming smiles, prolonged applause and an occasional American, but very un-British cheer," Robert Rosenthal and Nick King wrote.

But there were protests as well. As British soldiers marched in review past City Hall, demonstrators held up signs. Some read, "England: Get out of Ireland NOW!" and "No surrender to British imperialism."

Elizabeth was being remembered Thursday around the U.S. and the globe after her death at the age of 96. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu shared an image of the monarch in City Hall, which was then just seven years old, and called her an inspiration for her "grace & steadfast leadership."

Boston mourns the loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, whose grace & steadfast leadership have inspired generations around the world. Our hearts are with her family, loved ones & the people of the UK. pic.twitter.com/d8YG7sRYTN — Mayor Michelle Wu 吳弭 (@MayorWu) September 8, 2022

Elizabeth would make six trips to the United States in her 70-year reign. During the visit for the bicentennial, when she was 50 years old, she also stopped in Philadelphia, New York City, Charlottesville, Newport and Providence.

American's Bicentennial Celebration was a national party marking 200 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. At a state dinner at the White House, Elizabeth and President Gerald Ford shared a dance.

After Boston, the queen traveled to Canada, where she opened the Montreal Olympics.

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How Many Times Has Queen Elizabeth Visited America?

Queen Elizabeth II  is a world traveler, as she's made thousands of appearances since taking the throne in 1952, according to Reuters. Because of her status, she cannot just hop in a car and drive to her destination — there are certain royal protocols in place.

The queen is reportedly a fan of taking the train, regularly boarding at King's Cross in London and disembarking at Norfolk's King's Lynn station to kick off her Christmas break every year, per Town & Country. Elizabeth also has two helicopters in operation in case she wants to avoid traffic. If the queen is traveling by car, however, she prefers her Bentley State Limousine.

When it comes to traveling, the queen takes a few items to make her journey more pleasant. Elizabeth reportedly never travels without barley sugar candies to combat jet lag, per The Independent . She packs a black outfit in case of tragedy, and even brings along her own toilet paper, according to The Telegraph . Outfit choices are also important, so the queen reportedly packs around 30 options. She has also used the same suitcases since 1947 and writes "The Queen" on her luggage tags, per The Express .

Although the queen scaled back her traveling schedule due to coronavirus restrictions, have you ever wondered how many times she visited America? Keep reading for more details.

Queen Elizabeth II visited the United States six times

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip made six visits total to the United States, according to The Newport Daily News . A notable visit included the Bicentennial Celebration in July 1976 where they met president Gerald Ford and his wife Betty in Newport, Rhode Island. During their seven-day tour, the queen and Philip also stopped in Philadelphia and Boston.

She made numerous other visits to America, per the White House archives. Her first visit was in 1951 with the late Duke of Edinburgh before she became queen. The White House was due for some upgrades at the time, so she stayed with President Harry Truman and his family. Her next visit came in 1957, "to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607." In true royal fashion, she traveled by motorcade as hundreds lined the streets in poor weather to catch a glimpse of the queen.

Elizabeth also visited America in 1983, this time at President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan's Rancho Del Cielo in Santa Barbara, California. The queen ditched her traditional tea for enchiladas and refried beans, and later enjoyed a state dinner in San Francisco. She crossed the pond yet again in 1991 and planted a tree on the South Lawn of the White House. In 2007, she returned for the 400th anniversary of the English settlement in Jamestown. She also visited the World War II Memorial with President Bush and his father George H.W. Bush. Perhaps she will hop the pond again when she can safely travel once more.

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Queen Elizabeth’s long and special relationship with America

She was just 25 and still a princess when she and prince philip made their first visit to united states in 1951, writes andrew buncombe, article bookmarked.

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S he met every sitting US president but one. She stayed with another president, Harry Truman , before she was even the monarch, and met one more, Herbert Hoover, 20 years after he had left office.

Queen Elizabeth II –  who has died aged 96 after 70 years on the throne – made six official trips to the US, including three state visits with all the pomp and ceremony that involved. She also made a number of private visits, many of them in pursuit of her love of horse racing and the thoroughbreds of Kentucky.

She was just 25 and still a princess when she, and Prince Philip, made her first visit to the United States in 1951, staying with President Truman at Blair House while renovations to the White House were being carried out.

In 1957, she and Philip returned for her first state visit and were met at the White House by President Dwight Eisenhower and his wife Mamie.

He was the first serving president she met during her reign, which began in 1952.

In 2021, the Queen met Joe Biden – whom she had previously spoken to when he was a senator – bringing to 13 the total of presidents in office she met. The only sitting president she did not speak to face to face was Lyndon Johnson.

In one obvious sense, the number of American presidents she met is a striking reminder of the length of her reign. (When Eisenhower was in office, his political counterpart in London was Winston Churchill.)

Latest updates as Queen Elizabeth dies peacefully in Scotland

Supporters and admirers of the Queen say the connections she was able to make helped add personal cement to the relationship between the two countries, almost 250 years after what was a British colony fought for and secured its independence from King George III.

And diplomats from both the US and Britain say London was able to use the Queen’s soft power, and the prospect of a photo opportunity at Buckingham Palace, knowing the allure it held to some, even if they got to meet other heads of state all around the world. (In 2018, the Queen hosted Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, even as anti-Trump protesters demonstrated in central London and inflated a balloon that showed the US president wearing a nappy – or diaper).

Elizabeth was just 13 when the Second World War broke out, and she came of age – later serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women’s branch of the British army – at a time when the US’s importance to Britain, and to its very survival, could not have been more stark.

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Historian Robert Hardman, author of a number of books about the monarch including Queen of the World , says her growing up at a time of conflict – she served in the Women’s Land Army – resulted in her seeing the United States as a saviour of sorts for Britain and Europe.

That in turn has helped to shape the way many Americans, particularly admirers of the monarch, view her.

“It was quite well summed up years ago by a Washington journalist based in London: he just said that the Queen, to so many Americans, symbolised stability and permanence in a changing world – characteristics that people find very endearing,” he tells The Independent . “The shared bond of sacrifice, the war, the Second World War in particular, is seen as a big deal in public life.”

He adds: “Generations move on, but the royal family is very much identified with that sort of great transatlantic alliance that – it’s not an exaggeration to say – saved the free world.”

A royal diplomatic carrot

Diplomats from the US and Britain have said the Queen was used frequently to the benefit of both sides, even if any record of the visits of Her Majesty to the US, or a US president to Britain, tend to contain any manner of incidents of “protocol breaches”, as noted by royal watchers.

These included Trump’s walking in front of the Queen, instead of alongside her, and turning his back on her as they reviewed an honour guard, and Michelle Obama’s brief placing of an arm around the Queen’s back as they commiserated with each other about their aching feet.

In 2007, during the Queen’s last visit to the US, George W Bush momentarily mixed up a date of an earlier trip – a 1976 state dinner to mark the bicentennial of the American Revolution – saying she had been there in “17….”. He caught himself before he went any further, and added: “She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child.”

The 1976 visit was also not without note. Gerald Ford threw a dinner at the White House and invited the likes of Cary Grant. Reports suggest all went well until Ford led the Queen to the dance floor, perhaps not aware that the song sounding out through the room was “The Lady Is a Tramp”.

“I think it’s useful on both sides,” says Raymond Seitz, a career diplomat who served as US ambassador to London from 1991 to 1994, the last non-political appointee dispatched by Washington to the Court of St James’s.

“For the British, I think it is useful to see that there is a commonality of interests and history that has more or less worked to the benefit of both countries. Of course, the Queen will do her duty no matter what she thinks of the US president.

“And on the American side, because we tend to be a little rambunctious in our politics, and some of our decision-making, having affirmation from the British, not to mention participation from the British, is always valuable for an American president. So it’s not America going alone.”

Seitz says the US is overwhelmingly a celebrity culture. And because the Queen has been seen in that pigeonhole, few have understood her specific role or the purpose of the Commonwealth.

“There’s this extremely glamorous aspect to the monarchy. And so Americans want to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace,” he says. “And you don’t have to be a descendant of Anglos to like it, you know, Italian Americans go and Black Americans go and it’s just something to see.”

Seitz travelled with the Queen to Texas and Florida in 1991, when George HW Bush was president, and the monarch embarked on a 13-day tour that would include an address to Congress and a visit to the baseball match between the Baltimore Orioles and the Oakland Athletics. (A preview in The New York Times noted that the Queen “will be offered a hot dog but that she does not eat in public”.)

At the White House, she joked about being part of the bicentennial celebrations  15 years earlier.

“With gallant disregard for history, we shared wholeheartedly in the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the founding of this great nation,” she said.

She told the joint session of Congress: “The concept, so simply described by Abraham Lincoln as ‘government by the people, of the people, for the people’, is fundamental to our two nations. Your Congress and our parliament are the twin pillars of our civilisations and the chief among the many treasures that we have inherited from our predecessors.”

Seitz says the royal visitors drew warm crowds, even if not everyone was certain of who precisely they were.

“In Austin, Texas, the crowds were out, and they were waving little union jacks, and not quite sure who she was, but that she was pretty terrific,” he says. “And I think most people have just a very favourable image of her. And of course, the older she is, the longer she’s there, she’s like everybody’s grandmother.”

Seitz says he spoke to the Queen several times, always at social events.

“She has a very good sense of humour. And she’s very easy to talk to and interested in things and follows up after a conversation,” he adds.

“And she has a charming laugh. She says, when something’s funny, she really enjoys the humour of it. My encounters were always very pleasant. But I never had to talk hard business.”

‘Free men everywhere look towards the United States with affection and with hope’

Elizabeth’s first visit to the US was in October 1951, when the 25-year-old was not yet Queen. She and Philip spent two days in Washington DC, hosted by President Truman and his wife Bess. They had travelled to DC from Canada, where she was also making her first trip.

Her father, George VI, was very ill from lung cancer at this point, and he would die just months later, on 6 February 1952, his death at Sandringham Estate setting in motion Elizabeth’s ascent to the throne, and her subsequent coronation in June 1953.

Reports noted Elizabeth gave Truman an elaborate 18th-century “overmantle” to hang above a fireplace in the White House.

Meeting the royal couple at Washington national airport, Truman said: “I think your visit will improve – if that is possible – the cordial relations that exist between our two great countries, and I hope that while you are here you will have a very enjoyable time.”

In response, Elizabeth said during her time in Canada, she heard “much of the warm goodwill felt by the people of the United States towards the people of Canada, and I am glad that before sailing for England we are to have this chance of seeing at least some of the country with which the whole British Commonwealth has so many friendly ties”.

She added: “Free men everywhere look towards the United States with affection and with hope. The message that has gone out from this great capital city has brought hope and courage to a troubled world.”

Later, Truman said that, while he had received many guests in Washington, “never before have we had such a wonderful young couple, who have so completely captured the hearts of all of us”.

A new age of discovery – plus a game of college football

Five years after that first visit to the US, the Queen and Prince Phillip returned for her first state visit, the 31-year-old monarch being met at the White House by President Eisenhower and his wife Mamie. Eisenhower was the first serving president she met during her reign.

In addition to events in Washington DC and New York, the Queen attended the 350th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in 1607, the first permanent English settlement in North America. (It was also the site of the first landing of slaves, in 1619, the commencement of more than two centuries of slavery that would continue until the end of the American civil war in 1865.)

The Queen received a 21-gun salute and was welcomed at Jamestown by Virginia governor Thomas Stanley.

According to a report in the Richmond Times Dispatch , Elizabeth said in her remarks: “I cannot think of a more appropriate point for us to start our visit to the United States.”

She added: “The settlement in Jamestown was the beginning of a series of overseas settlements made throughout the world by British pioneers. Jamestown grew and became the United States. Those other settlements grew and became nations now united in our great Commonwealth.”

The Queen visited an exhibit of the settlement and had tea at the College of William and Mary, and attended a religious service in the Old Tower Church on Jamestown island. She and Philip would spend two nights at the Williamsburg Inn.

To bring the Queen to Washington, Eisenhower had sent his official aircraft, the Columbine III , to Patrick Henry airport in Newport News.

At a state dinner at the White House, the Queen said; “There are many indications today that we are at the beginning of a new age of discovery and exploration in the world of human knowledge and technology. Only a short time ago these unexplored areas of human knowledge seemed as impenetrable as the forests of this continent to the settlers 350 years ago.”

Her visit also took in a college football match, watching the Maryland Terrapins beat the North Carolina Tar Heels 21-7, at the University of Maryland, on the outskirts of Washington DC.

The Queen left for New York, where she addressed a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

She said: “This assembly was born of the endeavours of countless men and women from different nations who, over the centuries, have pursued the aims of the preservation of peace between nations, equality of justice for all before the law and the right of the peoples of the world to live their lives in freedom and security.”

She would not return to the US on an official basis until 1976 when she travelled to see Gerald Ford for the bicentennial celebration, an event that was also a state visit. She made official trips, though not state visits, in 1983 when she visited President Ronald Reagan, 1991 when she met President George HW Bush, and 2007 when she returned for the 400th anniversary of the English settlement in Jamestown

‘The only absolutely central item in president’s visit is this riding event’

Perhaps the most telling insight of the Queen’s power as a diplomatic tool with the wrapping of pageantry came during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, who served two terms, and visited London in June 1982 while the Falklands conflict was still going on.

The British government, led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was concerned to ensure the US’s support in a critical UN vote over the Falklands. The visit by Reagan was the first by a president for five years, but the invitation from the Queen – rather than the government – was the first of its kind since one made to Woodrow Wilson in 1919.

Reagan also had to juggle a one-day trip to the Vatican to visit the Pope, an economic summit in Paris, and the fallout from the British media again finding fault with a breach of protocol. (First lady Nancy shook hands and did not curtsy, triggering a series of hard stories.)

Reagan was also the first US president to address the Houses of Parliament.

Yet, documents obtained by the historian Hardman under a freedom of information request show the importance Reagan attached to an invitation from the Queen to ride with her at Windsor.

“Mrs Thatcher had worked very hard to bring Ronald Reagan onside in the conflict, despite the reluctance of some American strategists for whom Argentina served as a bulwark against the spread of communism in South America,” Hardman writes in Queen of Our Times .

Documents show Sir Nico Henderson, the British ambassador to Washington, reporting to London: “I need hardly say that the only absolutely stable and central item in any discussion of the president’s visit is this riding event.”

The ride, which lasted an hour around the Windsor estate, went off without a hitch, despite being “pursued by US Secret Service outriders in a state of near panic”.

Reagan wrote in his diaries that day: “Flew out for London and helicoptered to Windsor Castle. This was a fairy tale experience.”

A year later, Reagan returned the compliment, inviting the Queen to ride with him at his ranch in California, an offer he did not make to any other head of state.

Hardman says reading the documents it becomes clear that this was the “personal magic, which really matters to the most powerful man in the world at the time when Britain really needs his help”.

‘She’s enjoyed discussing horse breeding and meeting the people who run these farms’

In addition to the six official visits to the US, the Queen made several private visits and in particular was drawn to the bluegrass state of Kentucky. There she pursued her fondness for horse racing.

Her first visit came in October 1984, to celebrate the inauguration of a race named in her honour, the Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes, held at Keeneland, Lexington. The first race’s winner was Sintra, a Kentucky-bred horse. 

Seth Hancock, one of the half-owners of the horse, told a reporter from the Lexington Courier-Journal : “The queen’s a regular person, just like my mother and all the other classy ladies I’ve known in my life.”

The other half-owner, Renee Lickle, confessed to being more starstruck. “My hands were shaking so hard I couldn’t even hold my binoculars straight.”

She returned in 1986 and 1989, for what officials said was a “working holiday” with few if any public appearances.

The Queen is said to have stayed at Lane’s End, a farm in Versailles, west of Lexington, owned by her friend William Farish and where she stabled horses. Farish met Prince Charles while playing polo and was introduced to the Queen at a match she sponsored in England. Farish would later serve as US ambassador to London.

British embassy spokesman Francis Cornish told reporters at the time that the Queen was returning to Kentucky because there was no match for its status as a centre of horse breeding, and she had “thoroughly enjoyed herself” during her previous two visits.

“She’s enjoyed seeing the stallions,” Cornish said. “She’s enjoyed discussing horse breeding and she’s very much enjoyed meeting the people who run these farms and own these farms.”

The Queen returned twice more to Kentucky, in 1991, as the “unofficial” part of her official visit, and in May 2007 when she and Philip attended the 133rd Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

Former Buckingham Palace press secretary Dickie Arbiter told the WLKY television channel that year: “There are those ... who would probably say that she likes animals a little more than she likes people. And I suppose it can be argued that the animals are always pleased to see you and they don’t argue back.”

‘For many Americans it’s amazing she was Queen when Winston Churchill was prime minister’

The Queen’s last official visit to the United States was in May 2007 when she travelled to mark the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement, near Williamsburg, Virginia.

She was welcomed at the White House by George W Bush, and at the British embassy in Washington DC by the ambassador Sir David Manning. In his role as Britain’s envoy, Sir David accompanied the Queen’s party.

He believes the Queen’s admiration for the US was largely mutual.

“The affection for her was very clear when she came to the United States on her last state visit in 2007,” he says from London.

“And the one in 2007, in some ways, reprised the very first one because she arrived in Jamestown, and then went to Williamsburg. And when she stayed in Williamsburg, she stayed in a hotel that had wonderful photographs of her from the very first time in 1957.”

Sir David points out that the Queen met every US president who served during her reign bar Lyndon Johnson.

“And it was a source of fascination and amazement to many Americans that this was somebody who first came to the throne when Winston Churchill was the British prime minister,” he says. “And Churchill, as we all know very well, is a cult figure in the United States.”

He adds that for many Americans there was a sense of history about her, a link that goes right back to those days of Eisenhower and Churchill. “She, I think, is also enormously admired as being someone who lived through the Second World War.”

Sir David says during their time in Washington DC, the Queen and Prince Philip visited the then recently new World War II Memorial. They toured it, not with Bush but Bush’s father, George HW Bush, and former first lady Barbara Bush.

“This was a very moving event because all of them had lived through the war. There was Prince Philip, who had been on destroyers, and the Queen had been in the [Women’s] Land Army, and President Bush had been a fighter pilot,” he says.

“And I think this all has great resonance for Americans. And so I think there is a fascination and attachment.”

Sir David also spent 10 years as an adviser to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (William and Kate), and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Harry and Meghan).

In March 2021, Meghan and Harry delivered a withering account of the palace in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, accusing it of racism and officials of ignoring the couple’s appeal for help with their mental wellbeing.

Does Sir David believe events like that, or allegations made against her second son Prince Andrew in lawsuits filed in New York of sexual assault – claims he denied but which the Queen helped him to financially settle – tarnished her reputation?

He says that now he is living outside the US, it is impossible for him to say. However, he doubts it.

“Maybe other members of the family come up and come down, and they’re less or more popular, but I think the Queen is in a rather special category of her own, probably,” he says.

“I doubt whether the assessment of her is much affected by what the rest of the family do.”

He says that the controversy over Meghan and Harry is, of course, part of her reign, but doubts “it will much impact on how she was viewed from the United States”.

He says that she was “championing the Commonwealth, she’s champion decolonisation, she’s obviously absolutely happy in the company of all sorts of leaders from all around the world, and what’s more, she knows them all very well, I think that is much more the image Americans are likely to take away”.

Final visit and  a ‘vision in champagne’

During the six-day state visit in 2007, the staff at the Williamsburg Inn had set out photographs of the Queen, from her first visit 40 years earlier. The Inn has a long history of welcoming heads of state and government, and VIPs, among them the late Margaret Thatcher, who in 1993 was made chancellor of the College of William and Mary, located in Williamsburg.

Leslie Noble, the general manager, recalls her visit as one that was very warm and says that for many staff, the Queen’s visit would have been special, particularly given she was coming to celebrate 400 years since the founding of Jamestown.

Noble was supposed to have been in the farewell line that sent her off but because of a mix-up, she and her staff were sent out to wave at her departing helicopter.

“I was so impressed by her composure with this crowd in the lobby. How kind she was to the two little girls that gave the flowers,” she says, speaking from Williamsburg.

“She was only here less than 24 hours. But I watched her go up and down the staircase to her suite numerous times. Travelling up the steps like it was nothing, and these high-heeled shoes, and just the energy she had, even in her eighties.

“And I thought how remarkable she was, always seemed so composed and so friendly, smiling to people, even as she was heading back to her room to change for the next event that she had,” she adds.

Noble recalls that ahead of her visit, the Inn had been contacted by the Queen’s senior dresser, Angela Kelly, whose formal title is personal adviser to Her Majesty (The Queen’s Wardrobe).

She says Kelly told her the Queen had described her 1957 visit in such detail that she felt she had visited the Inn herself, even though at that point she had not.

The monarch had even remembered the gown she wore, though not its colour, as she had that item in two particular tones – blue and beige. Most photographs from the time were black and white.

Nat Reed, the Inn’s former superintendent of guest services, had worked during the Queen’s first visit, and retired in 1984.

During the time of the Queen’s second visit, Reed was in his nineties, but his memory was also sharp. (Reed died in 2009, aged 93, and his story in the Richmond Times was headlined “Nathaniel Reid, who served royalty at Williamsburg Inn, dies at 93”.)

“When asked about the colour of the gown – and they didn’t give him a choice – he just immediately said ‘she was a vision in champagne’,” says Noble.

“So she did remember her time with us and remembers that enough that she described it 50 years later in such detail, even the gown.”

Noble adds: “The fact that she remembered meant so much to us. To think with everything that she had seen and done in 50 years, she had enough of a memory of us.”

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Queen Elizabeth II 'floored' Americans during final visit to US in 2007

She impressed in the jamestown settlement with her grace and ability to wear heels on rocky ground.

Queen Elizabeth II at the White House during her state visit to the US in 2007, to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first English settlers. Getty

Queen Elizabeth II left a lasting impression on Americans during her final visit to the US, given her grace, confidence and ability to wear heels on rocky ground.

The late monarch and her husband Prince Philip embarked on a six-day tour in 2007 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the establishment of the first British settlement in America.

The couple were received by the president at the time, George W Bush, and his wife Laura. The pair threw a state dinner at the White House in honour of the sovereign.

The queen, a lifelong lover of horses, also attended the Kentucky Derby during her tour. However, it was her visit to the Jamestown settlement in Williamsburg, Virginia, that personified the significance of the historic visit.

“It was very, very clear that she was reflecting on our site,” David Givens, director of archaeology at the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation, told The National. “She conveyed to the team overall that this was the beginnings of the British Empire ― Jamestown. We were floored.”

The small island near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay became the first successful English colony in 1607 ― and thus the British Empire had spread to the US.

Archaeologists have for years worked at the site in an attempt to discover the workings of the first English settlers. When the queen visited Jamestown in 1957 for the 350th anniversary, researchers believed the remains of the fort were underwater. By the time she returned five decades later, there had been a breakthrough as diggers had unearthed the foundations of the settlement on land.

Mr Givens described how it was “such an honour” to have the queen visit the site and have his team’s archaeological dig acknowledged by such a prominent figure. Staff showed her and the Duke of Edinburgh their remarkable finds, including a pit filled with dozens of sword hilts used by settlers who crossed the water on boats.

Before receiving their guest of honour and her consort, the team went to a local DIY store to pick up supplies. Members then built custom-made stairs to enable the queen to walk down to the archaeological site.

But while extra safety measures were shunned by the monarch’s team, President Bush’s inner circle demanded a railing be constructed especially for the leader’s visit the following week.

“I was concerned…'do we need railing for her, do we need any kind of safety things?',” Mr Givens said, recalling a conversation he had with the queen’s private secretary. “And he said ‘oh no, she’ll just pop down into the site'.

“The queen of England walked down those ding-dang stairs. And in heels. She was wearing heels. She walked a third of a mile from the museum out to the site.

“President Bush also used those stairs ― but his secretary asked us to install a guard and handrail. That kind of struck me ― the differences.”

The queen’s trip also included a meeting with the leader of a tribe of Native Americans.

Throughout her 70-year reign, the sovereign visited the US several times and undertook three state visits of the country.

From Harry Truman to Joe Biden , the head of Britain’s royal family met with 13 of the last 14 US presidents.

The death of the queen at Balmoral on September 8 “was our loss as well”, Mr Givens said, as he praised the monarch for time and again reaching out to the American people.

“Her grace at the site was just something to behold,” he said. “She was such a powerful person and she exuded that in the way she conducted herself.

“You primed yourself just to be in amazement.

“As Americans, we’re a former part of a British colony, we often project things on to people but, at that time, I was struck that she was exuding a confidence and a character that you don’t often see.

“She was just phenomenal.”

His colleague Michael Lavin, director of collections and conservation at Jamestown, commended the queen for her “great run” of 96 years of life and 70 years on the throne.

“She was not disinterested, she was not going through the motions, she was not doing this to tick a box,” he told The National, recalling his meeting with her in 2007. “This was something that she wanted to do and she cared about what we here at the small little site were doing. It was very sad to hear of her passing.”

Queen Elizabeth II in the US - in pictures

Reagan laughs following a joke by Queen Elizabeth, who commented on the lousy California weather she has experienced since her arrival in the US. Getty Images

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Looking Back at Queen Elizabeth II's Visits to NYC Through the Years

Take a look at Queen Elizabeth's visits to the tri-state area over the years.

Published September 9, 2022 • Updated on September 9, 2022 at 12:38 pm

Queen Elizabeth II passed away Thursday at the age of 96, prompting a wave of worldwide mourning and tributes for the monarch who reigned for seven decades.

During the years as head of the British Royal Family, Queen Elizabeth traveled the world many times over, including visiting the tristate area -- particularly New York City -- on numerous occasions.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II'S FIRST VISIT TO NYC (1957)

Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.

Queen Elizabeth II visited New York City in 1957 -- five years after her accession to the throne when she was just 25 years old. The queen was met with a motorcade and a ticker-tape parade as she traveled down Fifth Avenue. It was during this Royal Tour that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited the top of the Empire State Building. ( The building lit up in purple and silver in honor of the queen Thursday evening. )

QUEEN ELIZABETH II VISITS TRI-STATE AREA TO CELEBRATE BICENTENNIAL OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1976)

Multiple people stabbed on party boat near Brooklyn pier: sources

NY lawmakers pass $237B budget addressing housing construction and migrants

During her world travels,  Queen Elizabeth made a brief trip to Connecticut as well as to New York City in July 1976 as part of the celebration of the Bicentennial of the American Revolution.

During Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh's visit to New York City, they visited the New York Stock Exchange and managed to squeeze in a visit to Bloomingdale's. She was even named an honorary citizen of the city.

Documentation of the visit is maintained by the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.

On the night of Friday, July 9, 1976,  Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, set sail on the HMY Britannia from New York to New Haven .

The  New York Times website  has a story from the Associated Press from July 11, 1976, which says 50,000 people lined the docks, streets and the airport in New Haven for a glimpse of the queen’s 40‐minute visit.

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S 2010 VISIT INCLUDES TRIBUTE TO 9/11 VICTIMS

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh's 2010 visit to New York City was the culmination of an 8-day tour of Canada. A day before heading back to England, the queen addressed the United Nations. Before this, she last addressed the UN in 1957.

The queen's trip was an emotional one, as Her Majesty and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh visited Ground Zero and paid their respects to the lives lost during the 9/11 terrorist attacks and laid a wreath at the site of the World Trade Center.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh also visited The British Garden in Hanover Square located in the Financial District. The garden stands as a memorial memorial to the British who died at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Two years later, the garden was renamed "The Queen Elizabeth II September 11th Garden, Inc.” as the memorial for all the Commonwealth victims of the 9/11 attacks and honoring Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee.

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President Bush Welcomes Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to the White House

"Our two nations hold fundamental values in common. We honor our traditions and our shared history. We recognize that the strongest societies respect the rights and dignity of the individual. We understand and accept the burdens of global leadership. And we have built our special relationship on the surest foundations -- our deep and abiding love of liberty."

-- President George W. Bush May 7, 2007

The State Visit in Honor of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh

President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush are honored to host Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh on Monday, May 7, 2007.

The United States has no closer ally and friend than Great Britain. Our nations share an exceptionally close relationship based on deep historical and cultural ties, a common language, shared values and interests, and a commitment to defend freedom around the world.

This visit by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, is an occasion to celebrate these enduring bonds.

President Bush and the First Lady visited England in November 2003 and welcome the opportunity to return that hospitality, which, as the Queen noted at that time, has been extended to seven of the President's predecessors.

The Arrival Ceremony

The Arrival Ceremony for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, will take place on May 7, 2007 on the South Lawn of the White House.

Approximately 7,000 guests will attend the Arrival Ceremony, including the American and British delegations, British Embassy staff, State Dinner guests, Members of Congress, Cabinet Members, White House staff and their guests, State Department staff, and students.

The White House arrival ceremony includes the following:

Guests of the State Dinner

The dinner will take place in the State Dining Room on the State Floor of the White House, following a reception in the East Room on the State Floor. One hundred thirty-four guests will be seated in the State Dining Room. A diverse representation of guests from across the country will attend the State Dinner. An American and a British delegation will represent their respective countries at the State Dinner. The Vice President and Mrs. Cheney, Secretary Rice, Secretary and Mrs. Gates, and General and Mrs. Pace are among the American delegation.

A member of the Bush Administration will serve as the table host at each of the thirteen tables. Members of the British delegation will be seated throughout the State Dining Room. Traditionally, couples are seated at different tables.

Attire for the State Dinner

In honor of the Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh the attire for the State Dinner is white tie. This is the first white tie event that the President and Mrs. Bush have hosted.

Other previous White House white tie events include:

Preparation for the Dinner

Mrs. Bush planned the dinner menu with her Social Secretary Amy Zantzinger and Executive Chef Cristeta "Cris" Comerford to prepare the dinner menu. Chef Comerford has worked in the White House kitchen since 1995 and was named Executive Chef in August, 2005.

Mrs. Bush also coordinated with Social Secretary Amy Zantzinger and Bill Yosses, the White House Executive Pastry Chef responsible for creating the dessert. Chef Yosses was named Executive Pastry Chef in January 2007.

The menu will include five courses: Appetizer/Soup, Fish, Meat, Salad and Dessert.

The Room Setting

The table settings will be appropriately appointed with historically significant pieces, including:

White House Coordination with the Office of Protocol

As with every State visit, the White House coordinates with the Office of Protocol, which resides at the Department of State. Ray Martinez serves as the Acting Chief of Protocol of the United States. There is always tight coordination between the Office of Protocol and White House entities, including the First Lady's Office, the White House Military Office, and the National Security Council. The Office of Protocol also ensures specific information is provided in preparation for State visits hosted by the President and Mrs. Bush, such as the proper way to address foreign dignitaries and visitors, dietary restrictions, and overall logistical movements.

Official Visits Hosted by President and Mrs. Bush

The President and Mrs. Bush have hosted eight Official visits during the Administration. An official visits includes a visit from a Head of Government or a Prime Minister with a formal White House Arrival Ceremony. Previous visits hosted by the President and Mrs. Bush are:

State Dinners Hosted by President and Mrs. Bush

The State Dinner for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh is the fifth of the Bush Administration. Four of the eight official visits also included State Dinners:

The Schedule of the Her Majesty's Visit to America

Previous Visits to United States

This is Her Majesty's first visit to the United States in 16 years. Previous visits include the following:

For this visit, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh will stay at the President's guest house, the Blair House.

In addition to the 2003 visit to England, the President and Mrs. Bush met Her Majesty and His Royal Highness in 1991, during the White House State Dinner hosted by the then President George H. W. Bush and Mrs. Barbara Bush.

Mrs. Bush's Chief of Staff

Anita McBride serves as Assistant to President George W. Bush and Chief of Staff to First Lady Laura Bush. As Chief of Staff, she oversees the First Lady's policy, press, correspondence, scheduling and advance, speechwriting, and social offices. Her White House service spans two decades and three administrations (George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan).

The Social Secretary

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Queen Elizabeth II: A lifetime of devotion and service

The funeral of Britain's longest-ruling monarch concludes a life exemplified by a personal motto of "I serve."

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch died on September 8, setting off a series of well-planned events to mark her passing. The culmination of these events is the state funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday and her subsequent interment at King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle. The people of the United Kingdom and leaders from around the world will gather in London to pay their respects to the late queen and bid a final farewell.

The beginning of an era

Queen Elizabeth II sat at her desk, undertaking her first duties as monarch. Just hours before, she had been Elizabeth Windsor; now she was queen of the United Kingdom, head of the Commonwealth of Nations, and sovereign of the Commonwealth realms.

It was 1952, and she was in mourning. But despite her grief, the young queen shouldered her new responsibility with grace—and her signature stiff upper lip. “She was sitting erect, fully accepting her destiny,” her private secretary later recalled. When he asked her which name she would reign under, she said “My own, of course.”

Over the seven decades that followed, Queen Elizabeth II would leave an unmistakable impression on her nation and the rest of the world. Her road to the throne was a twisted one; her reign beset by crises and social cataclysms. But her destiny was to rule through triumph and sorrow, conflict and almost unthinkable change. Along the way, she would become the longest-ruling British monarch—linking past and present and emerging as an indelible figure on the world stage.

A twist of royal fate

Born in London on April 21, 1926, Elizabeth was the granddaughter of a king and daughter of a duke—the newest member of the House of Windsor. Despite her royal pedigree, Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary didn’t seem destined to the British throne. She was third in line to the monarchy, but it was widely assumed that her uncle Edward would become king, marry, and produce royal heirs of his own. History had other plans for Elizabeth.

When she was nine years old, her uncle took the throne as Edward VIII according to plan. Less than a year later he abdicated, abandoning the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite. Elizabeth’s father would become king, and suddenly Elizabeth was next in line to helm Britain’s hereditary monarchy.

The lonely princess

Elizabeth had been raised quietly along with her younger sister, Princess Margaret. But when she became heir to the throne, her future reign indelibly shaped young Elizabeth’s life. Privately educated in Buckingham Palace and overseen by a beloved governess, she was tutored in her future duties by leading scholars and in religion by the archbishop of Canterbury. She learned from her father, too: Shy, stuttering George VI nonetheless addressed his people regularly and insisted on staying in London during the Blitz of World War II.

Elizabeth was a lonely but dutiful young girl—one biographer noted that her loud cries during her christening as a baby were “the last recorded instance of her surrendering to anything like a tantrum.” But the war opened up her horizons.

In 1940, she made her first public speech at age 14, addressing children who had been separated from their parents during the war. “We children at home are full of cheerfulness and courage,” she said. “We are trying . . . to bear our own share of the danger and sadness of war.”

Love and war

The teenage princess took part in the war effort in another way, too. In 1945, Elizabeth made history when she became the first woman in the royal family to serve full-time in Britain’s military as a truck driver and mechanic. When the war ended later that year, she wore her uniform and slipped into the celebrating crowds, blending in with the revelers as she basked in the joy and relief of peace.

By then, the seeds of what would become a seven-decade romance had been sown. Elizabeth and Margaret spent much of World War II at Windsor Castle. Elizabeth’s third cousin, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark often stayed there when he was on leave from the Royal Navy. After the war, their relationship bloomed.

The dashing, blunt prince—who was exiled to England as an infant amid political strife in Greece and became naturalized as Philip Mountbatten in 1947—was an unlikely match for the reserved queen-to-be. He was relatively poor and seemingly rootless, his childhood marked by instability and trauma. But Elizabeth was captivated, reportedly falling in love at age 13. “She had a protective shell around her, and he brought her out of it,” said one observer. They married in Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947.

The young queen

As a young wife and mother—Charles III was born in 1948 and Princess Anne followed in 1950—Elizabeth began to step into her aging father’s shoes. In 1952, she undertook a world tour in King George VI’s stead. During a brief getaway with Philip in Kenya, word arrived that her father had died. The 25-year-old was now a queen.

Elizabeth II, Britain’s 61st monarch, would reign over a vast empire and serve as head of the Church of England. At the time of her accession, Britain had more than 70 territories overseas. She was sovereign and head of state of the Commonwealth realms, including Canada and Australia, and the second Head of the Commonwealth of the Commonwealth of Nations, an association of sovereign states mostly linked to the United Kingdom through a history of British colonial rule. But her role was mostly symbolic: Though technically head of state and church, under the United Kingdom’s constitutional monarchy she possessed no ability to pass or enforce laws and was responsible for serving as a national figurehead, not a politician.

Elizabeth considered her responsibility as monarch a sacred duty. “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong,” she said in a radio address on her 21st birthday, when her father was still king. She would spend the rest of her life living up to that promise.

A glittering coronation

As she mourned her father and acclimated to life as queen, Elizabeth prepared for perhaps the most memorable of the many royal appearances she was to make during her long life: Her coronation, held in Westminster Abbey in June 1953, hewed to time-honored tradition.

The day of the ceremony, the demure young queen, wearing an elaborate white satin dress, took a carriage from Buckingham Palace to the abbey. Inside the abbey, she was blessed and anointed with oil, decked with royal robes, and given a scepter and an orb.

Finally, after a nearly five-pound crown studded with jewels was placed on her head, she received the homage of the royal family and the peerage. Prince Philip was the first to kneel before her, pledging to be her “liege man of life and limb.”

Admiring subjects lined the streets of London to celebrate. They weren’t the only ones to take in the grandeur—at the queen’s insistence, television cameras were allowed inside the church for the first time, and the coronation was broadcast live. An estimated three-quarters of the population of Britain, more than 20 million people, tuned in for the ceremony, and millions more watched from other countries. Her coronation was the world’s first must-see television event and ushered in a new, modern monarchy.

Her changing empire

The British Empire of the queen’s forebears was changing rapidly as countries asserted their independence in the postwar years. Elizabeth continued to serve as constitutional monarch of a growing number of Commonwealth realms. And as head of the Commonwealth of Nations, she presided over a loose group of mostly former British colonies that had abandoned their colonial relationships with Britain.

After the coronation, Elizabeth and Philip embarked on an unprecedented tour of the Commonwealth. During the trip, the pair traveled more than 40,000 miles and visited 13 countries. It was the first time a reigning monarch had visited either Australia or New Zealand.

The Commonwealth would become one of Elizabeth’s most enduring projects. She embraced the association’s diversity and fostered close relationships with its leaders. The Commonwealth “bears no resemblance to the Empires of the past,” she said. “It is an entirely new conception, built on the highest qualities of the spirit of man: friendship, loyalty, and the desire for freedom and peace. To that new conception of an equal partnership of nations and races I shall give myself heart and soul every day of my life.”

Royal duties

A busy travel schedule made up just part of the queen’s royal duties. Though the British sovereign must remain externally neutral on matters of state, they retain the right to appoint prime ministers and call a general election. Although those duties are usually no more than ceremonial, they remain a key part of protocol. Monarchs can also advise—or be advised by—their prime ministers.

During her weekly visits with Prime Minister Winston Churchill in her first years as queen, Elizabeth received his tutelage and shared in his notorious sense of fun. Her private secretary recalled hearing “peals of laughter” during their audiences, and the queen wrote that she was “profoundly grateful” for his guidance during her first years as sovereign.

A “priggish schoolgirl”

Despite her outward neutrality, the queen had her detractors—and soon learned that, in times of national strife, the monarchy could be harshly criticized. The first gauntlet came after the Suez Crisis, Britain’s disastrous, short-lived invasion of Egypt in 1956. The brief fiasco resulted in a decline in the U.K.’s global status and fueled a political and economic crisis.

After Anthony Eden, the prime minister who had given the invasion the green light, resigned, Elizabeth came under fire for relying on the advice of an insular group of royal insiders in choosing Eden’s successor. In 1957, Lord Altrincham, the influential editor of the National and English Review, published sharp criticism of Elizabeth and her “tweedy” advisers. Then he launched into a personal attack on the queen herself, complaining about everything from her voice to her “priggish schoolgirl” demeanor.

The criticism—and the debate it generated—prompted the queen to make lasting changes. Though the queen kept the monarch’s prerogative to appoint prime ministers, she would defer to political parties’ choice of prime minister for the rest of her life. And, in a nod toward equality, the queen eventually did away with the custom of presenting upper-crust debutantes at court, a long-standing tradition seen by some as evidence of a privilege unfairly extended to an elite minority.

A troubled nation

British society was changing and so was the monarchy. During her reign, Elizabeth faced a seemingly endless parade of crises, from economic malaise in the 1970s and 1980s to the international woes of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic in the 21st century. But some events hit closer to home than others.

One such event was the Aberfan mine disaster in 1966, a landslide in which 144 people, many of them schoolchildren, were killed. After refusing to visit the Welsh community until more than a week after the incident, Elizabeth faced deep criticism for what some saw as leaving her subjects in the lurch. The queen reportedly considered her bungled response to the disaster to be the biggest regret of her reign.

The Troubles, a three-decades-long conflict between nationalists and unionists in Northern Ireland, was another crucible. The violence left more than 3,600 dead and more than 30,000 injured. The Troubles also touched Elizabeth personally: Her second cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten was assassinated by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1979. It would take until 2011 for Elizabeth to make an official state visit to the Republic of Ireland, where she offered her sympathy to the victims of the Troubles. Despite her words—the closest a member of the Royal Family ever came to apologizing for Britain’s reprisals during the conflict—tensions continued to simmer in Northern Ireland, especially in the throes of Brexit, which threatened trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Pomp and circumstance

As a mother of four—Prince Andrew was born in 1960 and Prince Edward in 1964—the queen hewed carefully to her symbolic duties. Every year, she presided at the State Opening of Parliament, delivering a speech to the assembled members of the Houses of Commons and Lords. (During her reign she missed only three appearances; twice while pregnant with her younger sons and once in 2022 as concerns for her health increased.)

State events were filled with pitfalls of procedure and etiquette. But for the queen, there was a practical annoyance: the weight of her nearly five-pound Imperial State Crown. “You can’t look down to read the speech, you have to take the speech up. Because if you did, your neck would break—it would fall off,” she told the BBC in a 2018 documentary. “So there are some disadvantages to crowns, but otherwise they’re quite important things.” As the queen aged, she began wearing a lighter-weight diadem to Parliament instead.

Another tradition was the royal Christmas message, a speech broadcast first by radio, then by television to a worldwide audience. During the annual messages, which her grandfather first instituted, Elizabeth offered thanks and encouragement to the people of the Commonwealth and commented on the most pressing issues of the time.

And then there were the jubilees—anniversary celebrations of the queen’s ever lengthening rule. The queen would often travel throughout the Commonwealth of Nations during jubilee years, and she used the jubilee celebrations as chances to greet her subjects and focus on the unity and progress of her nation and the Commonwealth.

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In 1969, she presided over a very personal ceremony: the investiture of her oldest son, Charles, as Prince of Wales. As her son knelt before her at Caernarfon Castle, she placed a jewel-studded coronet on his head and presented him to the Welsh people as their prince.

Family matters

Over the years, the queen survived multiple assassination attempts. But those were arguably less traumatic than the family conflicts that rocked her personal life and shook public confidence in the monarchy.

The queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, caused a furor when tabloids published photos of her cavorting with her lover in 1976. Though Margaret’s subsequent divorce scandalized the family, Elizabeth gave it her blessing. It was just a preview of the strife to come.

The fallout of the tempestuous marriage and separation of Charles III and Princess Diana led Elizabeth to refer to 1992 as her “annus horribilis,” a year that also included a catastrophic fire at Windsor Castle, the divorce of Princess Anne, and the separation of Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah.

When Diana died in a tragic car crash while being pursued by paparazzi in 1997, her former mother-in-law was condemned for her seeming lack of emotion. But in private, the queen expressed her grief, writing to a friend that Diana’s death was “dreadfully sad.” In the aftermath, she protected and cared for her grandsons, Prince William and Prince Harry.

A stiff upper lip

Elizabeth’s troubles didn’t end then. Her son Prince Andrew was linked to infamous American financier Jeffrey Epstein and accused of sexually assaulting a minor Epstein had allegedly trafficked. Under increasing public pressure and after a widely criticized television interview in which Prince Andrew downplayed Epstein’s actions and denied any wrongdoing, he stepped down from public life in November 2019 and returned his royal patronages and military titles to the queen in January 2022.

In January 2020, Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, announced they would step back from the royal family and become financially independent. They also alleged that Meghan, who is biracial, had received racist treatment from members of the royal inner circle. Though the couple’s retreat to the United States reportedly came as a blow to the queen, the monarch retained a relationship with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from afar and was said to have been “overjoyed” that the pair named their second child Lilibet.

Another blow came in 2021, when Philip, the longest-serving royal consort in British history, died at age 99. Images of the queen sitting alone at her husband’s funeral, which was kept small to conform with the British government’s coronavirus-era restrictions, vividly illustrated the queen’s loss. But through it all, she presented a placid face to the world.

Intensely private though she was, the queen was also known to be warm and witty. She doted on her corgis and relished her summer retreats to Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where she could go on long walks and picnics, drive her Range Rover, and visit with her royal ponies. A committed horsewoman, she was a fixture at horse shows and races and could be spotted in the saddle into her 90s.

But for the woman who committed to serving her country at the age of just 25, her country was never far from her thoughts. She remained active and involved in public events into her mid-90s and never turned away from her responsibilities as queen. “These are the things that, at her age, she shouldn’t be doing, yet she’s carrying on and doing them,” her grandson Prince Harry said in a 2012 interview. So, what did the resilient queen make of her own boundary-breaking life? She reportedly joked, “I have to be seen to be believed.”

Elizabeth could find the humor in her complicated destiny. And for those who loved her—her millions of subjects, her loving family, and her fans around the world—she was much more than a figurehead. “In the days when it was a man’s world, it was very difficult for her to . . . make a difference,” her grandson Prince William said in a 2019 interview. “And she’s done it. In her own very unique, distinct way.”

To the end, she retained the calm resolve of the young woman who accepted her royal fate so many years before—a life of duty and service, accomplished as no one but Elizabeth could.

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Ten Times the British Royals Visited the U.S. in Style

Since King George VI became the first ruling British monarch to visit the United States in 1939, the Windsors have been exporting their own brand of royal glamour stateside from California to New York and countless states in between.

Queen Elizabeth II visited the U.S. seven times; five of these included state dinners at the White House and two were classed as "private" trips.

As well as the queen, her sister Princess Margaret visited the country on a number of occasions, followed by another glamorous royal, Princess Diana.

The princess was spending increasing amounts of time in the U.S. (in particular New York) at the time of her tragic death aged just 36 in 1997 when her car crashed in a Paris tunnel.

Diana's two sons, Princes William and Harry, have also spent time in the States, William alongside his wife Kate Middleton (now the Prince and Princess of Wales ) and Harry with Meghan Markle , who now reside in California with their two children.

Here, Newsweek looks at 10 times the British royals visited the U.S. in style over nine decades and two reigns.

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, Washington, July 1939

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later The Queen Mother ) became the first ruling British sovereigns to visit the U.S. in 1939 before the outbreak of World War II.

The royal couple combined their U.S. trip with a tour of Canada and became friends with President and Mrs. Roosevelt.

Princess Margaret, Washington, November 1965

Princess Margaret , Queen Elizabeth II 's younger sister, visited the U.S. on a number of occasions. Her most notable visit came in 1965 where she attended a formal dinner at the White House with President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Duke and Duchess of Windsor, New York, May 1967

After abdicating the throne to marry the twice-divorced, Pennsylvania-born Wallis Simpson , the Duke of Windsor and his new duchess visited the U.S. regularly, traveling by ship and staying in New York hotels.

The duke and duchess were regular features on the New York social scene at balls and parties when they were not otherwise occupied at their home in Paris.

Queen Elizabeth II, Washington, July 1976

Queen Elizabeth II paid a state visit to the U.S. in 1976 to celebrate the country's bicentennial.

During her visit, which included a trip to Boston, which Prince William and Kate Middleton are visiting in December, the queen was hosted at a state banquet by President Gerald Ford at the White House.

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Prince Charles and Princess Diana, Washington, November 1985

Princess Diana's first official visit to the U.S. as a member of the royal family was made four years into her turbulent marriage to Prince Charles (now King Charles III ).

The princess won great favor in the States, with the highlight of the visit being her star performance dancing with John Travolta in a glamorous black evening gown at a dinner reception hosted at the White House by President Ronald Reagan.

Princess Diana, New York, December 1996

As Princess Diana's marriage to Prince Charles came to its end, the royal spent increasing time in the U.S. on private visits to see friends or attend charity events.

In December 1996, the princess attended a number of events in New York City, including a United Cerebral Palsy charity humanitarian of the year awards dinner and the famed Met Gala.

Princess Diana, Washington, June 1997

Princess Diana's last visit to the U.S. was made just weeks before her death at the age of 36 in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997.

During her visit to Washington the princess visited First Lady Hillary Clinton at the White House and attended events connected with her campaign to end the use of landmines.

Queen Elizabeth II, Washington 2007

Queen Elizabeth II's last official visit to the U.S. came in 2007 where she was hosted by President George W. Bush .

The visit was organized to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia and the monarch also attended a state dinner at the White House.

Prince William and Kate Middleton, California, July 2011

Prince William and Kate Middleton, now the Prince and Princess of Wales, have visited the U.S. twice before on official engagements.

The first visit took place months after their April 2011 wedding where they attended a number of events in California following a tour of Canada. During their visit William took part in a charity polo match as well as attending a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) event in Hollywood.

Meghan Markle, New York, February 2019

Meghan Markle is the first American-born senior member of the British royal family, not including the Duchess of Windsor who did not play any official royal role.

Before she moved back to the U.S. with Prince Harry in 2020 following a strained period in Britain, Meghan visited New York City in February 2019 to attend a private baby shower and to watch friend Serena Williams participate in a U.S. Open tennis match.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer

James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family and royal fashion. He has covered contemporary and historic issues facing King Charles III, Queen Camilla, Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, the late Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana. James joined Newsweek in 2022 having previously contributed to titles such as The Lady, Majesty Magazine and Drapers. He also spent a number of years working with the curatorial department at Historic Royal Palaces, based at Kensington Palace, and contributed to the exhibitions Fashion Rules: Restyled (2016) and Diana: Her Fashion Story (2017). He also undertook private research projects with the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection. He is a graduate of University College London and Central Saint Martins, where he studied fashion history. Languages: English.

You can get in touch with James by emailing [email protected].

To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.

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The Visit of Queen Elizabeth II

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Etiquette Advice Abounds Amid Queen's Visit

May 7, 2007 • Queen Elizabeth II's six-day visit to the U.S., her first official trip to the country since 1991, has spawned a cottage industry of royal etiquette advice.

Beleaguered Bush Hosts Queen, Wins French Ally

May 7, 2007 • President Bush's popularity is flagging, but he is playing host to the very popular Queen Elizabeth II, and has a new ally in France. Here's a look at what might be in store for President Bush.

Queen, Street Sense Thrill Derby Spectators

May 6, 2007 • On the latest stop of her six-day state visit, England's Queen Elizabeth II attended the annual running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. She witnessed one of the more exciting Derby's of recent years, with horse Street Sense moving from 19th position to the front to win the race.

Will the Queen Make a Derby Fashion Statement?

May 5, 2007 • Queen Elizabeth II is recognized for her collection of hats. And her appearance at the Kentucky Derby will once again put her choice of headgear on public display.

Queen Elizabeth II Makes Derby Pilgrimage

May 5, 2007 • Typically the talk at the Kentucky Derby is about what horse will win, and whether the winning horse can take the Triple Crown. But this year the biggest gossip is all about Britian's Queen Elizabeth II. An avid horsewoman, she was at Churchill Downs for the race.

Reporter's Notebook

The queen's visit to virginia.

May 5, 2007 • Britain's Queen Elizabeth II visits the United States for the celebration in Virginia of the 400th anniversary of the 1607 founding of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World. She also paid tribute to the Virginia Tech shooting victims.

Queen Elizabeth Tours Virginia

May 4, 2007 • In her first visit to the U.S. in more than a decade, England's Queen Elizabeth II is expected to tour Jamestown and Williamsburg, Va., Friday. She last visited America in 1991.

Queen Elizabeth's Trip Includes Visit to Tech Victims

May 3, 2007 • Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is in the United States for a weeklong state visit to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, the first permanent British colony in America. In Richmond, Va., the queen spoke this afternoon at the state capitol about the long friendship between the United States and the United Kingdom.

Queen Seeks to Fly 'Green' on U.S. Visit

May 3, 2007 • As Queen Elizabeth II begins her state visit to the United States, she will pay $20,000 for a "carbon offset." That's a fee paid to compensate for the carbon that her flights across the Atlantic and around America will spew into the air. The money will go towards a project to reduce greenhouse gases.

Jamestown's Early Days Were Brutish and Short

May 3, 2007 • This month marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Va., the first permanent English settlement in North America. Many historians see Jamestown as the birthplace of modern America. Was the original colony really a success?

Queen Elizabeth Prepares for Her American Visit

May 2, 2007 • Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will arrive in the United States on Thursday for a state visit that centers on the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Va. — the first permanent English settlement on American soil. The queen and her husband, Prince Philip, will attend the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

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This Day In History : June 7

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King George VI becomes the first British monarch to visit the U.S.

King George VI becomes the first reigning British monarch to visit the United States when he and his wife, Elizabeth, cross the Canadian-U.S. border to Niagara Falls , New York. The royal couple subsequently visited New York City and Washington, D.C., where they called for a greater U.S. role in resolving the crisis in Europe. On June 12, they returned to Canada, where they embarked on their voyage home.

George, who studied at Dartmouth Naval College and served in World War I , ascended to the throne after his elder brother, King Edward VIII, abdicated on December 11, 1936. Edward, who was the first English monarch to voluntarily relinquish the English throne, agreed to give up his title in the face of widespread criticism of his desire to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson , an American divorcee.

During World War II , King George worked to keep up British morale by visiting bombed areas and touring war zones. George and Elizabeth also remained in bomb-damaged Buckingham Palace during the war, shunning the relative safety of the countryside, and George made a series of important morale-boosting radio broadcasts, for which he overcame a speech impediment.

After the war, the royal family visited South Africa, but a planned tour of Australia and New Zealand had to be postponed indefinitely when the king fell ill in 1949. Despite his illness, he continued to perform state duties until his death in 1952. He was succeeded by his first-born daughter, who was crowned Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953.

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A Look Back at Queen Elizabeth II's Visit to Connecticut in 1976

Her majesty's visit to new haven was brief, but memorable, published september 8, 2022 • updated on september 8, 2022 at 4:08 pm.

Queen Elizabeth II, died Thursday at the age of 96 , and the world is mourning the loss and remembering the monarch who reigned for seven decades.

During her world travels, Queen Elizabeth made a brief trip to Connecticut in July 1976 . She visited the United States during the celebration of the bicentennial of the American Revolution and documentation of the visit is maintained by the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.

On the night of Friday, July 9, 1976, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, set sail on the HMY Britannia from New York to New Haven .

The couple arrived at City Dock in New Haven at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 10, and they were at Tweed-New Haven Airport by 10:25 a.m.

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Moments later, they flew from New Haven to Charlottesville, Virginia, according to the itinerary for the trip.

The New York Times website has a story from the Associated Press from July 11, 1976, which says 50,000 people lined the docks, streets and the airport in New Haven for a glimpse of the queen’s 40‐minute visit.

Gov. Ella Grasso and Mayor Frank Logue of New Haven greeted the queen and prince and presented them with gifts.

Queen Elizabeth II: A Royal Life in Pictures

During that trip to the U.S., President Ford and the First Lady hosted a dinner for the queen and prince at the White House on July 7, 1976, and several Connecticut residents were on the guest list for the dinner.

They included:

• Mr. and Mrs. Frederick K. Biebel, of Stratford
• Olympic skater Dorothy Hamill, of Riverside, who was a 1976 Olympic gold medalist in figure skating
• Chalmers Hamill, of Riverside, the brother and guest of Dorothy Hamill
• Mr. and Mrs. Reginald H. Jones, of Fairfield, Connecticut
• Nancy, Lady Keith, New Milford, Connecticut

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Queen Elizabeth “Loved It When Things Went Wrong” During Public Engagements

By Erin Vanderhoof

For years, Queen Elizabeth II had a busy schedule that included hundreds of intricately planned engagements where she met with regular people and saw sights across the world. But according to one of her longtime aides, she was more free-spirited than you might think. Samantha Cohen, who worked for the queen for 18 years, told Australian newspaper The Herald Sun , that despite the preparation that went into an engagement for the queen, she was very tolerant when things didn’t go according to plan.

“The Queen had no ego,” Cohen said. “She was so comfortable in herself, yet she loved it when things went wrong—if a cake was not cutting or a plaque didn’t unveil—because everything was so perfectly organized, it spiced her life up when things went wrong.”

Australian-born Cohen, who is now chief of staff for mining company Rio Tinto, served as the head of royal communications, assistant and deputy private secretary to the queen, and private secretary to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry during her two decades of service to the palace. She told the newspaper that her role with the queen meant that she sometimes stayed in her own bedroom at Windsor Castle after evening events. “When we were on duty at Balmoral we could bring our families. My children had summer holidays there, and when I was on duty every two years at Sandringham, they came there for Christmas. It was a beautiful time,” she added. “The Queen and I used to talk a lot…. I miss her, she was a special woman.”

Cohen told The Herald Sun that the tours to Australia were her favorite parts of her job with the queen. “I loved, loved, loved the job as the Queen's assistant private secretary,” she said. “They were happy times because the Queen was in great form, and Aussies are liked by the royals because we're outside the hierarchy and we don't take ourselves seriously.”

Cohen added that she thinks the royal family is good for Australia. “I think the royals do an extraordinary job and the relationship between the two countries is special. It’s always been symbiotic," she said. “I think they are a wonderful asset for this country and the Commonwealth, including Australia.”

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