Pomp and pageantry for Obamas in London

[May 24, 2011]  LONDON (AP) -- President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama traded-in Irish charm for the pomp and pageantry of Buckingham Palace Tuesday as they opened a two-day state visit to Britain at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II.

The president and first lady Michelle Obama began the day greeted by Prince Charles and his wife Camilla at Winfield House, the stately mansion in Regent's Park that is the residence of the U.S. ambassador. The Obamas stayed there Monday night after leaving Ireland early instead of spending the night in Dublin because of safety concerns over a volcanic ash cloud being blown toward Britain from Iceland.

Their next stop Tuesday was Buckingham Palace for an official arrival ceremony with all the grandeur the British royalty can offer.

While Obama will tackle prickly foreign policy matters in the coming days, the opening rounds of his four-country European tour are all about the personal politics that made him so beloved on this continent as a presidential candidate and in the early days of his term in office.

While in Ireland, Obama embraced the touch of Irish in his family history, drinking a pint of Guinness with a distant cousin in the hamlet of Moneygall and delivering a rousing speech on the ties between the U.S. and Ireland before tens of thousands crammed into the center of Dublin.

In London, the president and his wife, Michelle, will embrace the tradition and history of Britain's royal family, which is experiencing a resurgence in popularity following the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, now known as Princess Catherine. The Obamas added a meeting with the newlyweds to their schedule for Tuesday, giving them an opportunity to congratulate them in person since they didn't attend their wedding.

Royal watchers say the queen has taken a liking to the Obamas ever since meeting the couple during their 2009 visit to London. Mrs. Obama created a stir in Britain when she wrapped her arm around the queen -- a faux pas, according to royal etiquette experts -- only to have the queen respond with her own show of affection and a reciprocal embrace.

Back in London again, this time as official guests of the queen, the Obamas will spend two nights at Buckingham Palace. Festivities include the elaborate arrival ceremony Tuesday morning and toasts at an intimate banquet for about 200 royals and other dignitaries that evening.

The president will also lay a wreath at Westminster Abbey, the site of the recent royal wedding.

Obama will meet briefly with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday, though their most substantial talks will come the following day, when Afghanistan, Libya and the global economy are all on the agenda.

Obama's mission, in part, is to reassure Britain and the rest of Europe that the traditional U.S. allies still have a central role in U.S. foreign policy that has become increasingly focused on Asia and other emerging markets.

"I think this is, in part, a way to bring back the special bonds of this relationship," said Heather Conley, director of the Europe program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In a joint editorial for Tuesday's edition of the British newspaper The Times of London, Obama and Cameron cast the relationship between the U.S. and Britain as one that makes the world more secure and more prosperous.

"That is the key to our relationship. Yes, it is founded on a deep emotional connection, by sentiment and ties of people and culture. But the reason it thrives, the reason why this is such a natural partnership, is because it advances our common interests and shared values," the leaders wrote.

Still, the two allies don't always agree on every issue, a reality sure to expose itself in talks on national security and foreign policy. When it comes to the NATO-led bombing campaign in Libya, for example, some British lawmakers have expressed concern that European countries, including Britain, have carried an unfair share of the burden in an effort the U.S. has made clear it does not want to run.

After his two-day stop in Britain, Obama will head to France for a meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized nations and then to Poland, a schedule the White House says the president intends to keep despite the approaching ash cloud.

Obama tried to get to Poland last year for the funeral of its president. But that trip with canceled because of an ash cloud from a different Icelandic volcano

[Associated Press; By JULIE PACE]

Associated Press writers David Stringer and Nancy Benac contributed to this report.

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