The Queen Comes Ashore

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Gerald Martineau's May 4 front-page photograph heralding Queen Elizabeth II's arrival in Richmond for the 400th-anniversary celebration of Jamestown's founding was graceful and beautiful, as it showed young people buzzing with excitement and vying to get a good shot of the queen. Yet the picture lacked one thing: It did not represent America. Or maybe it did.

This colorful picture was colorless. As far as I could see, there were no Hispanics or African Americans in the crowd. And this was in Richmond, where the mayor, former Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder, is African American. This is not the color of America.

-- Uka Okoro Onuma I

Hyattsville

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The May 6 Metro article "Prince Philip Has a Mouthful of a Title. And, Often, His Foot" was frivolous and disrespectful.

While it is true that Prince Philip can make offensive, politically incorrect statements, it is also true that there is an outstanding record of activities that he has undertaken to make the world a better place for all of us, including his World War II service with the British Pacific Fleet in Southeast Asia, his funding of educational scholarships, and decades of dedication and hard work to preserve our fragile and threatened environment.

For The Post to call such an accomplished and intelligent man a "hoot" did a great disservice to your readers and to a distinguished individual who was here to help us celebrate our 400th anniversary.

-- Diana Kingsbury-Smith Keesee

Waterford

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Regarding numerous articles about Queen Elizabeth II's visit on the 400th anniversary of the establishment of the country's first English colony, Jamestown:

Many of your reporters used the word "British" instead of "English," including in a May 5 Style article in which the writer talked about settlements of British colonies in America.

They were British colonies after 1707, when the parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain was formed by dissolving both the English and Scottish parliaments. But before that everything was English. In May 1607, when Jamestown was founded, English (not British) colonists went ashore at present-day Cape Henry in Virginia to establish the first English (not British) settlement in the Western Hemisphere.

The terms "English," "British" and, for that matter, "United Kingdom" should be used appropriately in historical context. In 1801, the parliament of the United Kingdom was created when the kingdom of Great Britain was merged with the kingdom of Ireland to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Today Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales. Together with Northern Ireland, all four are called the United Kingdom.

-- Subhash Vohra

Falls Church