Text 4532, 110 rader
Skriven 2007-05-07 23:31:22 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0705075) for Mon, 2007 May 7
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Mrs. Bush's Remarks in a Media Preview for the State Dinner in Honor of Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip Duke of
Edinburgh
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For Immediate Release Office of the First Lady May 7, 2007

Mrs. Bush's Remarks in a Media Preview for the State Dinner in Honor of Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip Duke of
Edinburgh State Dining Room


˙˙˙˙˙ Welcoming Queen Elizabeth II

2:25 P.M.

MRS. BUSH: Hello, everyone. We're so happy tonight to have the opportunity
to entertain Her Majesty and His Highness, His Royal Highness, Prince
Philip, for a white tie dinner. They hosted us at Buckingham Palace in 2003
for a white tie dinner, and we're really thrilled to have the opportunity
to host them.

We came to the State Dinner for Queen Elizabeth back in '93* when President
Bush was President, and so we know what this dinner will be like, and we've
been really looking forward to it for that reason.

We just had a luncheon. It was just a family, relaxing luncheon. We had our
two ambassadors -- Ambassador Tuttle, the U.S. ambassador to England, and
Sir David Manning, the ambassador to Washington from Great Britain. And
then we had George's sister Dorothy and her son Sam, and George's brother
Marvin and his wife Margaret, who both live in the area. And so we had a
very fun and relaxing lunch. And I will say, Cris, the food was superb. It
was really great. And I know you saw when it went back that everyone ate
everything. (Laughter.)

And Bill did a beautiful dessert that was a big flower sort of arrangement
of spun sugar in the middle on sort of an egg, and then little watering
cans of chocolate sorbet. And so it was a beautiful garden theme for that
dessert.

Let's see. Tonight's entertainment is Itzhak Perlman. I think you all have
already seen that in the release, which I think will be great. And George
and I are very, very proud to have him as our entertainment for Her
Majesty. We'll also have the Strolling Strings, as usual, that will come in
during dessert. And then the Army Chorus will sing to close the evening.

So I think we'll have a really great time there. I think you've all seen
the guest list, and in a minute I think they'll bring you over so you can
see who's sitting at the President's table and who's sitting at my table.
Our special surprise guest -- and we had saved two places to be able to ask
someone from the Kentucky Derby, and so we have the jockey, Calvin Borel.
So we're very thrilled to have him tonight and his girlfriend for the
dinner, as well.

Let's see, you can see how beautiful the flowers are, and right here is the
whole team that put all of this together -- Amy Zantzinger, who is our new
social secretary, and she has initiation by fire, starting with the most
elegant and most formal State Dinner that we'll host. And she's done a
terrific job. Also, this is Admiral Steve Rochon. He's our new chief usher.
And once again, this is his first State Dinner, and it's such a very, very
important State Dinner. And he's done a terrific job. I hope you all will
have a chance to get to know him.

Bill Yosses is our dessert chef, and he also -- well, you were here a year,
you've been -- is it a year? No, just six months. And he's done a terrific
job. And Nancy, our florist, Nancy Clarke that you all know. You've met her
at all the Christmas previews and all the other previews. She's been here
for many years, and once again, you can see her arrangements are just
magnificent, and they're just so perfect and elegant, I think, for Her
Majesty. And Cris Comerford, who is our executive chef. I know you all know
Cris. And she's been here for a while, but fairly new as the chief chef, as
the executive chef. And she's been fixing really, really wonderful food.
And today's lunch was certainly that way, and I know tonight's dinner will
be delicious, too. I don't know if you all have seen the menu cards. Have
they -- do you know if they -- have you seen those? So you've seen what
we're serving tonight.

So I think it will be a really beautiful dinner, and I want you all to be
able to ask them anything you want to know about what all of them have
done. I will tell you that we did have to talk the President into white
tie. (Laughter.) He was not that -- Dr. Rice and I took it upon ourselves
to talk him into it, because we thought if we were ever going to have a
white tie event, this would be the one. And so he was glad to wear white
tie. But I don't know about the rest of our guests, especially the ones
from Texas. They're probably having to go out and rent theirs this
afternoon. (Laughter.)

But anyway, it's going to be a very fun and festive evening, and we're so
happy to have this opportunity. It's really a huge privilege to have the
opportunity to entertain Her Majesty, and to underscore how important our
relationship is and has been through our whole history with Great Britain,
and what a staunch ally Great Britain is of ours and how much we appreciate
it.

So I guess that's it, unless Sally thinks of something else I didn't tell.
So I'll let you all take over with all the people who actually did all the
work and put all this together. And doesn't it look so pretty?

Thanks everybody. Thank you all.

END 2:32 P.M. EDT

*The State Dinner was held in 1991.
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