Charles and Camilla begin US tour at
British Memorial Garden
November 2, 2005:
New
York City, November 1, 2005:
Prince Charles and
the Duchess of Cornwall have begun their US tour by paying their
respects at Ground Zero.
The royal couple then inaugurated the British Memorial Garden for UK
victims of the 11 September attacks.
After meeting families of British victims, Prince Charles said he
and his wife had been moved by what they saw.
The prince is also visiting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at the
New York headquarters as part of the American tour. The royal
couple's eight-day stay also includes visits to New Orleans,
Washington and San Francisco.
The trip is Prince Charles' and Camilla's first joint official
overseas tour since they married.
They were met at Ground Zero by New York Governor George Pataki,
British Consul General Sir Phillip Thomas and Kenneth Ringler, the
executive director of the Port Authority, which owns the site.
Hundreds of well-wishers met the royal couple at the British
Memorial Garden where the prince unveiled a dedication stone.
After meeting relatives of some of the British victims near the
garden, Charles said: "Both my wife and I are profoundly moved
by what we saw, not just the scale of the whole outrage but the
deeply distressing individual stories of heroism and loss.
"In the four years that have passed the sorrow is not lessened.
Our hearts go out to you and also to the families of the New York
fire and police departments who sacrificed their lives."
Talking about the memorial garden, Charles said: "Both our
nations have been united by grief and strengthened by the support we
have given each other."
As a sign of that unity, the Union Jack was flown alongside the
World Trade Center flag for the visit.
November 1, 2005:
CHARLES AND
CAMILLA TO GO STRAIGHT TO GROUND ZERO
From an article by Times Online and agencies
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall headed straight to
Ground Zero in Manhattan after they stepped onto US soil on their
first foreign visit together.
The chartered plane carrying Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla,
and their 16-strong entourage, touched down in fine weather at New
York's JFK airport, after leaving RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire at 9am.
Camilla, who has been trying to project a more glamorous image, was
wearing a red Italian wool crepe jacket and dress, with velvet
chiffon trim by designer Roy Allen.
At Ground Zero, their first ever official duty on foreign soil, they
were met by New York Governor George Pataki, British Consul General
Sir Phillip Thomas and Kenneth Ringler, Executive Director of the
Port Authority which owns the World Trade Centre site. They paid an
emotional visit to the Family Room, a small room set aside for the
relatives of those killed and open to them 12 hours a day, seven
days a week. The walls are plastered in personal mementos,
photographs, birthday cards and tributes from military services
around the world. A model of the twin towers is enshrined under a
white arch topped with a dove. There are seats inside for the
bereaved to sit and grieve and several windows overlooking the site.
"For so many this is their graveyard," a Port Authority
spokesperson said.
Charles and Camilla appeared relaxed as they studied various
mementos adorning a memorial outside. The Duchess was shown a
British Transport Police badge which sat among scores of insignias
and flags in tribute. Flying high above the memorial against
brilliant blue skies was a Union Jack flag recovered from the
rubble. Charles and Camilla were shown a framed picture of when the
flag was last flown, on July 10, the day Britain remembered the
victims of the London bombings with a moment of silence.
At the British Memorial Garden, less than a mile away, the couple
were given a tour of the garden and unveiled a dedication stone in
memory of the British victims of September 11th.
The two were greeted by dozens of well-wishers, some of whom waved
Union flags and cheered. The couple also paused briefly to talk to
some of the specially-invited family members of those killed in the
terrorist attack.
The Duchess also accepted flowers from five-year-old New Yorker
Katherine Beaumont.
The inscription on memorial stone - made of Morayshire stone -
reads: "This stone was laid on 1 November 2005 by the patron of
this garden, the Prince of Wales." The stone also bears the
Prince's crest where they will unveil a stone dedicated to the 67
Britons killed when hijacked jets crashed into the twin towers.
They will later meet United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and
attend a reception at the Museum of Modern Art. The couple will
attend some 22 events during the whirlwind eight-day tour. Tomorrow
Charles and Camilla will dine with President Bush at the White House
in Washington before jetting south for a brief stop in hurricane
ravaged New Orleans, en route to San Francisco.
Aides are hoping that the Duchess can charm the American public,
traditionally seen as pro-Diana, as she undertakes her inaugural
royal tour. The late Princess of Wales enchanted American society
when she danced with Hollywood actor John Travolta at a White House
gala dinner, almost 20 years ago to the day.
So far, the US media have largely ignored the impending royal tour.
One poll showed that 81 per cent of Americans are not remotely
interested in the couple and less than one in five wants to meet
them. But the tide could easily turn when they step out together
amid a flurry of regal glamour.
The British Memorial Garden was designed by the British landscape
architects Julian and Isabel Bannerman, known for their work on
Charles' own garden at Highgrove, at a cost of £3.6 million. The
garden, which is due to be completed next summer, is designed as a
green corner of Britain in Manhattan, with topiary trees, boxwood
hedges and a central sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor.
The first seeds to be planted were delivered by the Princess Royal
two years ago and were taken from royal palaces in Britain.
Camilla Hellman, president of the garden's trust, said: "We
are delighted and excited by their Royal Highness's upcoming visit
to our garden-in-progress."
Among those attending the brief dedication ceremony are Sir Evelyn
and Lady Rothschild, Eileen Guggenheim, Lord Colin Campbell, Sir
Harold Evans and his wife Tina Brown, the former Tatler editor, who
is writing a biography about Diana.
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