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RICHMOND - The Queen arrived today in Virginia to help commemorate the 1607 founding of Jamestown by English settlers
The Queen hailed the deep bonds between Britain and the United States as she stood in the Roman-inspired capitol building designed by Thomas Jefferson.
Accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, the queen was greeted by thousands of well-wishers who braved rainy weather reminiscent of London to gather on the lawn of the capitol to bring flowers and catch a glimpse of her.
Americans admire her stalwart demeanour, her elegant hats and the fairy tale fantasy her life represents. But despite their excitement over Queen Elizabeth's US visit, Americans have no interest in a monarch of their own.
"She's the original female CEO. She does it all: God, country, duty, family," said Betsy Marks, 50, of Ashland, Virginia, who, like many of the women at Queen Elizabeth's arrival ceremony wore a straw hat in the style of the monarch.
"It's magical, it's little girls in fairy tales and princesses and all that," said her friend, Marina Winks, also 50, of Lynchburg, Virginia
But both women were adamant that they would not want a monarch for their own country.
"We were founded on different ideals than their country was. But it's fun to enjoy someone's else's royalty," Winks said.
Political scientist Terry Madonna of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has never seen a poll on the subject but said he was quite certain that sentiment is shared by an overwhelming majority of Americans.
American aristocracy
However, he said there is a paradox in that the culture creates its own version of a monarchy in its tendency to idolise prominent and wealthy families such as the Rockefellers, Roosevelts and Kennedys.
"In some ways, Americans have developed their own aristocracy, based on wealth, to replace the hereditary aristocracy," he said.
"Beyond even the Rockefellers and the Kennedys, it has segued into popular culture with the fascination with people like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears," Madonna said.
So strong was the anti-monarchist sentiment at the founding of the United States, there were worries when George Washington became the first president that the might turn the role into a monarchy, said Thad Tate, professor emeritus at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. "He had to walk a very fine line."
Tate noted that it was Jefferson, the third US president, who enshrined an anti-monarchist sentiment in the Declaration of Independence in which he railed against the tyranny of King George III.
But Tate, who watched the queen's procession 50 years ago through Williamsburg from his window at the college, added, "There is a great American infatuation with monarchies -- the British monarchy in particular."
Many Britons pride themselves on a system in which the monarchy tends to ceremonial duties, while the prime minister runs the government free of the responsibility of having to serve as the figurehead.
Wearing a bright pink hat and lilac coat, the queen said the "deep friendship" between the United States and Britain was one of the most durable in the world but was not one-dimensional.
"Friendship is a complex concept," she said. "It means being able to debate openly, disagree on occasion, surmount both good times and bad, safe in the knowledge that the bonds that draw us together ... are far stronger than any temporary differences of opinion," she said.
Kim McQuillen, 40, who let her 3-year-old daughter take a day off from preschool to attend the queen's arrival ceremony, was among the few onlookers to say she would not mind having a monarchy in the United States.
"I know there's a lot of controversy about it," she said. "But someone in that position could, with that power and that money, do good and charitable works. I think we could very much use someone like that in this country," she added.
- REUTERS
