White tie, red carpet for Queen Elizabeth II

updated 8:40 a.m. ET May 8, 2007

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Web extra video Royal reception May 7: President Bush and Queen Elizabeth II address 7,000 guests on the South Lawn. NBC News Web Extra

The president and the queen took markedly different approaches to their formal remarks.

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

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

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

"Ours is a partnership always to be reckoned with in the defense of freedom and the spread of prosperity," she said.

Earlier gaffes aside, the day had the White House at its freshly painted best and brought excitement inside and outside its gates.

Hats and flags
Under lampposts adorned with the two countries' flags, throngs hoping for a rare glimpse of royalty lined Pennsylvania Avenue for much of the day. Hats of all shapes bobbed down the street.

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