By Fredrick Kunkle and Paul Duggan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 4, 2007

RICHMOND, May 3 -- Ladies and gentlemen, The Queen.

As dozens of well-wishers and a military band waited in the rain for her arrival, Queen Elizabeth II and her royal entourage touched down Thursday at Richmond International Airport, beginning the British monarch's first U.S. visit since 1991 -- a six-day tour eagerly anticipated by her hosts and many of her loyal subjects residing in the former colonies.

Whisked by motorcade to Virginia's newly refurbished State Capitol with her husband, the 81-year-old queen delivered a six-minute speech to a joint session of the General Assembly. Although she traveled here to help commemorate the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, England's first permanent colony in the New World, she opened her remarks on a somber note.

"As a state, and as a nation, you are still coming to terms with the dreadful events at Virginia Tech on the 16th of April," she said. Thirty-two people were slain on campus by a gunman who then killed himself. "My heart goes out to the students, families and friends who were killed and many others who have been affected," she said.

"On behalf of the people of the United Kingdom, I extend my deep sympathies at this time of such grief and sorrow." She later met privately with some of the students.

As for Jamestown, she told lawmakers that it is appropriate for history to "reassess" English settlers' role in pushing Native Americans from their land and enslaving Africans. But she stopped short of an apology, saying such debate should not overshadow the role the settlers played in establishing the nation's democracy.

In 1619, 20 Africans arrived in Jamestown on a Dutch ship and were traded for goods, marking the start of slavery in what would become the United States, according to the National Park Service.

"Human progress rarely comes without costs," she said. "And those early years in Jamestown, when three great civilizations came together for the first time -- Western European, Native American and African -- released a train of events which continues to have a profound social impact not only in the United States but also in the United Kingdom and Europe."

She said, "It is right that we continue to reassess the meaning of historical events in the changing context of the present."

Later, the queen honored the 104 English settlers who landed in Jamestown in 1607, saying they "built a great nation, founded on the eternal values of democracy."

The queen will tour Jamestown on Friday and visit the recently discovered archaeological site where the settlement's original stockade fort was erected. She will have lunch -- rockfish, Virginia ham, salad and a lemon tart -- outdoors in the historic district and then pay a call at the College of William and Mary before leaving for the Kentucky Derby. She'll visit Washington early next week and will be honored with a state dinner at the White House.

As for the greeting she and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, received when they arrived outside the Capitol about 3:30 p.m. -- well, based on the size of the crowd, perhaps the queen is old hat.

After preparations for about 30,000 onlookers, an enthusiastic but relatively smaller crowd of about 7,000 people gathered at the foot of the State Capitol to see the queen on a cool, drizzly day perfectly suited to the British Isles.

Everyone had a theory for the low turnout.

There was the weather, of course. But some thought that Americans, awash in pop celebrity, had little time for an aging monarch. Others wondered if the details of her visit -- released at the last minute by British Embassy staff-- had not been publicized enough. Others said people have become blasé about the royals since the death of Princess Diana and because of various scandals.

Outside the Capitol, the festive mood built long before the royal arrival as hundreds of VIPs and others selected by a lottery for front-row seats milled about the plaza. A few thousand spread picnic blankets and draped Union Jacks over security fences around Capitol Square as bluegrass bands fiddled and sawed. One woman waited nine hours and 20 minutes for an eight-minute sighting of the queen.

People in business dress mingled with members of several Virginia Indian tribes in full regalia, their every step setting off jangles of beads and bells. One woman wore an elaborate royal gown, replete with a swooping, clamshell-like collar, in a centuries-old style.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), as the official host, escorted the queen on a 15-minute stroll of the grounds. His wife, Anne Holton, escorted the duke.

The Kaines presented the queen with a first edition of "Jefferson's Notes on Virginia," which Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1781.

Wearing a lavender coat with pink trim, a gold brooch and fuchsia hat, the queen accepted dozens of bouquets of flowers from guests who had been invited by Kaine to watch from a rope line. She touched a few outstretched hands.

But of course not every hand.

"Do you see her? Can you see her?" yelled Todd Perkins of Richmond to his three children.

"I've been here since 6:30 a.m. . . . and I'm moving so much my pictures are going to look like they're from a race car," said Keith Gary, who said he was first in line, with his mother, Georgenne Hall, when the Capitol gates opened at 11 a.m.

"Come down here, your majesty!" bellowed Perkins. "Come down!"

Midway through the walk, Prince Philip picked up a young girl and carried her across a police barricade so she could personally meet the queen.

Later, the queen encountered members of the Osbourn High School football team from Manassas. They were invited because the team won the state AAA championship in the fall. The coach gave her a team-autographed ball, which she quickly handed to an aide.

Chiefs from the state's eight Indian tribes, whose ancestors first encountered the British at Jamestown, performed a dance. Ben Adams, 57, a member of the Upper Mataponi tribe who danced for the queen, said he was thrilled.

"It was real exciting. For her to come -- it's tremendous respect for her," said Adams, who is the chief's brother. "It has been a sorrowful time. But now is a time for healing. Our ancestors would be happy about this."

Hayley Hassett, 10, who got up close with other classmates from Mary Mumford Elementary School in Richmond, still seemed wide-eyed about the event half an hour later.

"I handed her the flowers. I didn't really say anything," Hayley said. "She said, 'You're very kind' in a really soft voice. It was very cool talking to the queen."

The only skirmish that occurred between the former colonists and the British took place near the riser set up at the foot of the Capitol steps: British photographers complained that the Americans had grabbed all the good spots in advance.

Many of the Native Americans who came said they hoped their presence would raise awareness of two key points: their survival despite 400 years of intermittent conflict and racial divisions with the European descendants and their desire for federal recognition.

"We were here first. We're hoping it will give us some insight on our life and maybe they'll give back something to the people who have had so much taken away," said Mayflower Adkins, 80, a member of the Chickahominy tribe who attended with her daughter, Birdie, 58. Both live in Charles City.

Chief Bill Miles of the Pamunkey nation presented the queen with a copy of a pearl and gold brooch given to Pocahontas when the Powhatan princess, having converted to Christianity and married colonist John Rolfe, visited London 400 years ago.

Judy Arenstein never caught sight of Her Majesty, although she had dearly hoped to.

Working the information counter at the Richmond airport as a volunteer, she had to settle for the photo on the cover of the magazine she had brought with her, hoping to get the queen's autograph. She has had it all her life -- the Feb. 15, 1943, issue of Life, from the week Arenstein was born.

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.