That George! You just can't take him anyplace!

Bush welcomes the Queen with a gaffe

By Tom Leonard in Washington
Last Updated: 2:05am BST 09/05/2007

Bush dusts off finest china for the Queen's visit
The Queen's visit in pictures
President George W Bush welcomed the Queen to Washington with a time-honoured tradition - one of his famous gaffes.

<i>(incriminating picture. Please, I just got an Apple and haven't figured out how to isolate the photo from the article. Any help would be appeciated!)

The Duke of Edinburgh, Laura Bush, The Queen and George W. Bush line up on the red carpet
With the Queen standing at his side on the White House lawn and the world’s media hanging on his words, it was probably not the best moment for Mr Bush to slip up.

But with impressive comic timing, the American President recovered from almost suggesting that his guest was around in the 18th century and ended up ensuring that his 7,000 strong audience laughed with him, rather than at him.

The United States was a nation she “had come to know very well”, he said. “After all, you’ve dined with 10 US presidents. You helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17 - 1976.”

As many in the crowd burst out laughing, Mr Bush turned and looked sheepishly at the Queen.

Peering at him from beneath her hat, she did not appear to share the general merriment.

Turning back, Mr Bush prompted the Queen to laugh as he said with a smile: “She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child.”

The Queen and Mr Bush later celebrated the ties between Britain and America in the grandest dinner of his tenure at the White House.</div>