Please note that the following is a digitized version of a selected article from White House History Quarterly, Issue 64, originally released in print form in 2022. Single print copies of the full issue can be purchased online at Shop.WhiteHouseHistory.org No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All photographs contained in this journal unless otherwise noted are copyrighted by the White House Historical Association and may not be reproduced without permission. Requests for reprint permissions should be directed to rights@whha.org. Contact books@whha.org for more information. © 2022 White House Historical Association. All rights reserved under international copyright conventions.
FOREWORD Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Marks a Seventy–Year White House Friendship queen elizabeth ii visited the united states as princess and queen, officially and privately, eight times, from 1951 to 2010, never failing to make front page news. With the press documenting nearly every smile, speech, and backdrop as America watched, she met more U.S. presidents than any other head of state, thirteen of the fourteen who have served during her reign. Historic photographs from October 31, 1951, show the routines of life in the nation’s capital paused for her first arrival as thousands lined closed streets for a glimpse of her waving beside President Harry S. Truman in the back of an open-top convertible in a lengthy motorcade. They would be witnesses to a moment at the outset of her life’s work of service to her country, during which she would strengthen the Anglo-American relationship through a continuum of official visits and less formal excursions that took her to cities from coast to coast. She in turn would witness seventy years of White House history and experience firsthand the White House traditions that would begin and end, evolve and endure over seventy years. Friendship is a recurring theme in the words the queen spoke on every visit and a motivation for the extent of her travels. “From time to time, friendships must be publicly reaffirmed,” she explained during a 1983 State Dinner in her honor. During her annual Christmas Message in 2021, the queen drew attention to an upcoming milestone, noting, “February . . . will see the start of my Platinum Jubilee year, which I hope will be an opportunity for people everywhere to enjoy a sense of togetherness, a chance to give thanks for the enormous changes of the last 70 years—social, scientific and cultural—and also to look ahead with confidence.” This unprecedented occasion provides a fitting time for White House History Quarterly to focus on White House history through the extraordinary experience of Queen Elizabeth II. Curator Candace Shireman opens the issue with a behind-the-scenes look at the queen’s four stays at Blair
House, The President’s Guest House, where each moment of every visit is planned months, sometimes years, in advance and is executed with a devotion to perfection. Curator Sally Goodsir of Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Collection Trust shares a glimpse at the official gifts exchanged by the queen with U.S. presidents, from the overmantel glass featured on our cover to the Tiffany box presented by President Joe Biden in 2021. Historian Alan Capps takes us back to 1976 and 2007 when Queen Elizabeth II joined America in celebrating the Bicentennial of its independence and the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. Culinary historian Alex Prud’homme goes behind the scenes to the White House Kitchen during the Bicentennial visit when his great-aunt, Julia Child, spent the evening reporting for PBS as Chef Henry Haller prepared a five-course white-tie State Dinner to celebrate the momentous occasion. As both guest and host, Queen Elizabeth II has shared wine, a universal symbol of hospitality, with many presidents of the United States. Political historian Colleen Shogan looks at the traditional practice of toasting with wine and the rhetoric of diplomacy during the queen’s reign, while Frederick J. Ryan, Jr., details the selection of each vintage. As she publicly reaffirmed her friendship with the United States, Queen Elizabeth II made excursions beyond 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that took her from a Washington supermarket to Hollywood, but perhaps her most adventurous journey was made by four-wheel-drive up a treacherous mountaintop road during a torrential downpour, fording flooded streams and facing gale-force winds. That journey, recounted by Sarah Thomson in our Quarterly Presidential Sites feature article, brought the queen to President Ronald Reagan’s private California home, Rancho del Cielo. Unfazed by the danger, the queen called the journey “exciting”—an appropriate word to describe our two nations’ long friendship itself.
marcia mallet anderson editor, WHITE HOUSE HISTORY QUARTERLY
4
ALAMY
A 1991 exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum reflects the scope of global interest in Queen Elizabeth II’s historic reign.
white house history quarterly
5
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip wave as their train departs Washington’s Union Station at the conclusion of their State Visit as guests of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1957.
Pomp, Circumstance, and A ROYAL QUEST To Discover America A Photographic Overview of Queen Elizabeth II’s Visits to the United States
AP IMAGES
m ar ci a m allet ander so n
queen elizabeth ii’s introduction to the united states began in 1951 when, as Princess Elizabeth, she made an official visit to Washington, D.C., and was hosted by President Harry S. Truman. Four State Visits (1957, 1976, 1991, and 2007), five State Dinners (1957, 1976, 1983, 1991, and 2007) and two unofficial visits (1959 and 2010) have since followed during her seventy-year reign as Queen Elizabeth II. In a speech delivered at National Airport upon her first arrival in the United States, as she embarked on a full itinerary, Princess Elizabeth explained her perspective on seeing America and foreshadowed the approach she would follow over the course of her many visits as queen: “I know it is never possible to understand a country as great as this by visiting only its capital. . . . But so much of the history of the United States has been enacted here, so many memorials of your national achievement stand here, that I hope before I leave to see a little deeper into the sources of your great strength.” She concluded by saying “Free men everywhere look towards the United States with affection and with hope.” As she wished, her quest to see the sources of America’s strength has taken her from the pomp and circumstance of White House Arrival Ceremonies and State Dinners to national monuments and natural wonders, football and baseball stadiums, the United Nations and the United States Congress, grocery and department stores, and the historic sites where history had been enacted. From the start, she endured relentless photographing, and the resulting enormous photographic record documents nearly every step of her American journeys. As a whole, the images capture the “affection and hope” shared by Queen Elizabeth II herself and Americans she encountered along the way.
white house history quarterly
7
1951
8
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS THIS SPREAD: AP IMAGES
Queen Elizabeth II’s first visit to the United States was as Princess Elizabeth. On a side trip during a Royal Tour of Canada, she was a guest of President Harry S. Truman at Blair House, The President’s Guest House from October 31 to November 2, 1951. Upon her arrival with Prince Philip at Washington’s National Airport she was met by the president and inspected an honor guard of troops during a welcome ceremony (right). While in Washington, D.C., she visited Arlington National Cemetery, the U.S. Capitol, the Library of Congress, and Mount Vernon, was hosted by President Truman at a small white-tie dinner at Blair House and hosted President and Mrs. Truman and their daughter, Margaret, at a gala at the Canadian Embassy (above).
white house history quarterly
Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip view the Declaration of Independence at the Library of Congress (left) and the tomb of President George Washington at his Mount Vernon estate (below), during their 1951 visit to Washington, D.C. They would visit the tomb again nearly forty years later during the George H. W. Bush presidency.
Princess Elizabeth is greeted by crowds of well-wishers as she makes her way along Massachusetts Avenue toward a reception at the British Embassy (above), November 1, 1957.
white house history quarterly
9
Queen Elizabeth II’s first State Visit to the United States began in Virgina, where she marked the 350th anniversary of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. Accompanied by Prince Philip, she toured the settlement and then visited the College of William and Mary nearby and spent the night at the Williamsburg Inn. The following day the royal couple flew to Washington, D.C., and were welcomed at National Airport by President Eisenhower, who hosted a State Dinner in their honor at the White House on October 17. During their stay they attended a University of Maryland Terrapins football game and stopped at a supermarket on the way back to the White House. On October 19 they hosted the Eisenhowers at the British Embassy before departing for New York City, where the queen addressed the United Nations General Assembly and visited the Statue of Liberty and other sites.
10
white house history quarterly
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS THIS SPREAD: AP IMAGES
1957
On October 17, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower posed with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip (opposite top) in the White House Entrance Hall ahead of a white-tie State Dinner. The following day the queen visited Children’s Hospital (bottom right) and the National Gallery of Art (opposite bottom). On October 19, the royal couple enjoyed a Maryland Terrapins football game (right), and, at her request, stopped to tour a supermarket (below).
white house history quarterly
11
From July 6 to July 11, 1976, Queen Elizabeth II helped America celebrate the Bicentennial of its independence. Accompanied by Prince Philip, she toured the historic cities of Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New York City, New Haven, Charlottesville, Providence, and Boston. Arriving on July 6 by the royal yacht Britannia in Philadelphia, she was welcomed to the White House by President Gerald R. Ford on July 7 with an official Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn and hosted at a State Dinner set in the Rose Garden in her honor that evening. President and Mrs. Ford are seen (above) with the royal couple on the South Portico. On July 8, she hosted President Ford at a banquet at the British Embassy (right). She sailed on the Britannia to New York City on July 9 and from there made short trips to New Haven, Connecticut, and Charlottesville. On July 11, she welcomed President Ford to a farewell dinner on the Britannia before departing for Canada.
12
white house history quarterly
BOTH IMAGES THIS SPREAD: GETTY IMAGES
1976
LEFT: GETTY IMAGES / RIGHT TOP AND BOTTOM: AP IMAGES
On July 10, 1976, Queen Elizabeth II toured President Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello home (right) in Charlottesville, Virginia, and spent time browsing at Bloomingdale’s in New York City (above), before continuing to Boston where on July 11 she and Prince Philip (above right) viewed crowds from balcony of the Old State House near the site of the Boston Massacre of 1770.
white house history quarterly
13
1983
14
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS THIS SPREAD: GETTY IMAGES
Queen Elizabeth II’s 1983 visit to the United States was spent entirely on the West Coast. From February 26 to March 7, accompanied by Prince Philip, she made visits to San Diego, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Sierra Madre, Duarte, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Sacramento, Stanford, Palo Alto, Yosemite, Portland, and Seattle. On March 1, she visited President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan at Rancho del Cielo, their private mountaintop ranch, for lunch, and on March 3 the president hosted a State Dinner (above) in her honor at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. On March 5, she visited Yosemite National Park (right).
white house history quarterly
1991 Queen Elizabeth II’s May 14–26, 1991, visit to the United States began in Washington D.C. Accompanied by Prince Philip and as the guest of President George H. W. Bush, she was welcomed with an Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House and honored with a State Dinner. Ahead of the black-tie dinner, President George H. W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush posed for photographers with the royal couple on the North Portico (below). While in Washington the queen toured the city and made trips to Arlington and Baltimore before departing to visit Miami, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston, where she toured NASA’s Johnson Space Flight Center (right). She concluded the trip with a private visit to Versailles, Kentucky.
white house history quarterly
15
2007 Queen Elizabeth II’s 2007 visit to the United States marked the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown. Accompanied by Prince Philip, she arrived first in Richmond on May 3 and from there continued on to Jamestown and Williamsburg, where she spent the night at the Williamsburg Inn, as she had fifty years earlier. She attended the Kentucky Derby on May 5 and on May 7, as a guest of President George W. Bush, was welcomed with a morning Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn followed by a State Dinner that evening. Before she departed the United States, the queen’s excursions included a visit to Greenbelt, Maryland, and the recently dedicated National World War II memorial.
16
white house history quarterly
this spread, clockwise from opposite left
FA R L E F T ; A L A M Y / A L L O T H E R P H O T O G R A P H S T H I S S P R E A D : G E T T Y I M A G E S
Scenes from Queen Elizabeth II’s State Visit to the United States, May 3–8, 2007: Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by Prince Philip, is greeted at the White House by President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush ahead of a State Dinner at the White House; tours the National World War II Memorial with Mary Bomar, director of the National Park Service; watches as reenactors present a special performance chronicling the 400 year relationship between Britain and America; tours NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,Maryland; and stops to visit well-wishers lining Pennsylvania Avenue.
white house history quarterly
17