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Queen to honor WWII veterans

WASHINGTON -- Queen Elizabeth II...was to honor American soldiers with a visit Tuesday to the National World War II Memorial...

It will be the queen's first visit to the war memorial, which was dedicated in 2004. The queen, a teenage princess during World War II, won permission in 1945 from her father, King George VI, to join the war effort as a driver in the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women's branch of the British Army. She became No. 230873 Second Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor...

[Monday] ended with a second visit to the White House for the administration's first white-tie state dinner. It was designed to showcase American culture and cuisine. But the hosts didn't forget to include special touches designed to honor its British ally and make the queen feel welcome.

The centuries-old vermeil flatware and candelabras came from a London silversmith. A made-of-sugar replica of the queen's 1953 coronation rose graced the cake.

In the leaders' toasts at dinner, they took opposite tacks. Bush praised the queen for a reign that has ''deepened our friendship and strengthened our alliance,'' while the British monarch talked of the threat of terror, problems like climate change and the likelihood of occasional disagreement between allies...

The queen's visit is her fifth to the United States in 50 years and her first since 1991.
Read entire article at AP