Straining for a Glimpse of Royalty

On the cover: Princess Elizabeth, two months shy of 17 and nine years away from assuming the British throne. Arenstein keeps it wrapped in plastic.

"Isn't she adorable?" the Richmond woman said.

The queen finally arrived in Colonial Williamsburg at 5:50 p.m. under a light drizzle and was greeted by the cheers of a modest-size crowd lining Duke of Gloucester Street.

She and her husband boarded an ornate, open-topped horse-drawn carriage, whose doors bore the coat of arms of the Lee family of Virginia (a gray squirrel and the Latin motto "Ne Incautus Futuri" -- "Be not unmindful of the future").

The carriage carried the couple on a four-block trip to the nearby Williamsburg Inn, where they spent the night. Also along for the ride was Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, honorary chairman of the Jamestown 2007 celebration.

In the crowd of well-wishers stood Kathy Graves of Williamsburg and four friends.

All wore gold cardboard crowns procured at a local fast-food restaurant.

Graves doffed hers as the queen passed.

"It was wonderful," she said quietly afterward. "It was a thrill. She's a lovely woman. And I think Prince Philip is still so handsome.

"They're so regal. It's been the thrill of a lifetime."

Staff writers Michelle Boorstein, Tim Craig and Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report from Richmond and Michael E. Ruane from Williamsburg. Duggan reported from Washington.