Showing posts with label Queen's visit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Queen's visit. Show all posts

May 3, 2007

Royal visit to Richmond: The Queen

Yes, she's royal and famous, and she's been around longer than dirt. But the world in Richmond stood still between 3:00 PM and six o'clock today. Local public radio cut away from an NPR broadcast in order to cover the Queen's speech, which had something to do with the 400 year anniversary of Jamestown.

A lottery determined who would sit in a special gallery of lucky winners, and people from around the state arrived early to stand hours in line to get a glimpse of her. A friend of mine was invited to meet her in the governor's mansion and hoped to "chat" with Prince Phillip. I'll find out soon if he did.

The poor woman and her "roving eye" husband landed at our airport at 3 PM, was immediately led to our newly renovated state capitol to greet dignitaries and some victims who survived the Virginia Tech massacre, and scheduled to make a speech in front of the General Assembly before being whisked off to Williamsburg by six.

Whew. She's sure earning her salary on this trip! At eighty, she might not be back again. This is only her 5th visit to the U.S. in 50 years. Perhaps we should invite Helen Mirren for the 410th anniversary of Jamestown if the queen does not survive another decade. Think anyone will notice the difference?

And where were her corgies, for chrissakes? They were the REAL attraction.

"I am not amused." Queen Lillibet