Her Majesty's Host Is Nearing End of U.S. Tour

Sir David Manning escorts Queen Elizabeth II into a garden party Monday at the British Embassy. (By Andrew Harnik -- Associated Press)

When Queen Elizabeth II gave a dinner last night as the concluding event of her visit to the United States, she did it at the Massachusetts Avenue NW residence of a man named David Manning.

Sir David Manning is the United Kingdom's very proper and accomplished ambassador to the United States, and it was in his ambassadorial residence that the queen gave a three-course dinner, with scores of prominent guests, to reciprocate for the dinner President Bush gave her Monday night.

Manning has been the queen's host during her six-day visit, the other man (besides Prince Philip) at her side.

In a high point of his tenure in Washington, guests went to his residence last night to hear the queen toast the ties that he was assigned to nurture.

In her toast at the dinner, attended by the president, his wife and many other dignitaries, the queen, according to a prepared text, spoke of "the strength and vitality" of the relationship between "our two countries."

Under Manning's roof, guests dined on wild Scottish smoked salmon (appetizer), roast rib of veal (main course) and a summer pudding (dessert). Four wines were served, and the queen asked everyone to drink to the president and first lady Laura Bush, to the future of Britain and the United States and to the countries' "enduring friendship."

For Manning, it was a high point in a long diplomatic career that, he said in an interview, included his and his wife Catherine's encounter last summer with grizzly bears in Montana.

In every retelling, he said, "the bears are closer."

"Fortunately, they took no interest in us -- we were not about to become their supper. They were a very beautiful toffee color, but we didn't stay around to get any closer."

The Oxford-educated Manning, 57, is retiring in September after a career that has taken him to Poland, India, France, Russia, Israel (where he also served as ambassador) and, for the past four years, the elegant British chancery at 3100 Massachusetts Ave. NW. During his latest tour, he has worked with U.S. leaders to confront the dangers of a post-9/11 world, deepened already cordial U.S.-British relations and, in his limited spare time, explored as much American wilderness as possible.

As foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2001 to 2003, he made "quite a special bond" with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, then Bush's national security adviser. "We faced enormous challenges in that job -- we had 9/11 and the whole aftermath of that," he said.

The Mannings have enjoyed their time in the United States, he said. Catherine Manning is an author who has published five mysteries under her mother's maiden name, Elizabeth Ironside. Together, the couple has enjoyed Shakespeare plays and "the wonderful hiking in America," he said.

Staff writer Martin Weil contributed to this report.