Bubbly and Small Talk With Her Majesty

Everyone rehearsed small talk and debated their royal approach. Several American women said they were out of practice with their curtsying.

"The last time was at a piano recital when I was 10," one fretted.

"I think I'd fall over if I tried," another said.

A uniformed royal handler tried to put them at ease, with stories of others who have done worse.

"The number of men who get nervous and curtsy, you wouldn't believe," he said.

After the receiving line was finished, we all gathered in the Blue Drawing Room and the Picture Gallery, a vast hallway decorated with works by Rembrandt, Canaletto and other masters.

For the next 90 minutes, the queen worked the room in her sturdy black pumps. Her handlers moved ahead of her, setting up small, horseshoe-shaped groups of six or eight people for the queen to meet.

My group consisted of actor Don Johnson, two young Americans from the Oxford University rowing team, my colleague (and wife) Mary Jordan, and U.S. soccer star Brian McBride, who plays in the top British professional league.

The queen approached, minus gloves, carrying a glass of water, the rim thick with lipstick. She wore a string of pearls and single-pearl earrings, with her shiny black handbag dangled over her left forearm, silently posing the question: What's in there, and why?

"I had no idea there were so many Americans here," she said to Johnson, who is starring in a London revival of "Guys and Dolls," but still has "Miami Vice" mischief in his eyes.

"We're all slowly working our way back over here," Johnson replied.

The queen appeared to find that amusing, but she was more interested in the two big rowers, Terence Kooyker and Andrew Wright. She asked to see their hands.