Bush to get etiquette tips before he receives the Queen

WASHINGTON: How does George W. Bush, a towel-snapping Texan who puts his feet on the table, drinks water straight from the bottle, talks with food in his mouth - and once gave Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany an impromptu shoulder massage - prepare for a state dinner with the British Queen? With tips from an etiquette guide, of course - and a little gentle prodding from his wife.

The White House is all atwitter over the visit planned for Monday by Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip. It is the first visit by the queen since 1991, when Bush's father was president, and White House aides say the state dinner to honor her is not only the social event of the year, but the social event of the Bush presidency.

It will also be closely watched by Washington's social elite for its clash of cultures: Texas swagger meets British prim. Dinner attire is white tie and tails - the first, and probably the only, white-tie affair of the Bush administration - and the president, not a white-tie kind of guy, was said to be none too keen on that, until Mrs. Bush put her foot down.

"I think Mrs. Bush is thrilled to have a white tie dinner, and we'll leave it at that," Amy Zantzinger, the new White House social secretary, said Friday as she arranged a seating chart for 134 on a huge computerized screen behind her desk in the East Wing.

Zantzinger said she was not swamped with requests; anybody who hadn't already received one of the elegant gold-rimmed invitations (hand-penned by a calligrapher, then engraved) apparently knew it would be gauche to ask. Still, the exclusivity has made for some awkward moments, as when the social secretary ran into the first President Bush in the hallway of the West Wing the other day.

"He was making jokes and then he said, 'You know what, that is the hottest ticket in town' - he just was so nonchalant," she said, adding, "If he wanted to come, he could have."

At this, the First Lady's press secretary, Sally McDonough, apparently fearing an international incident in the making, interrupted with a gentle correction.

"It's not that he didn't want to come," she explained, adding that with only 134 seats - 28 of them taken up by the official United States and British delegations - the elder Bushes would be guests at the so-called "reciprocal dinner" the royals are hosting at the British Embassy Tuesday night. "It's very strategic in the coordination between the two dinners," McDonough said.

Bush's moniker for his father - 41, because he was the forty-first president - is well-known, and he will surely need no etiquette guide to warn him away from referring to the queen as "II." Even so, as it does for every official state visit, the White House has been consulting with the State Department on official protocol, and has put together a little booklet of tips.

It's not exactly classified, but it's definitely not public. Still, aides to the first lady shared a few do's and don'ts: The queen shall be addressed as "Your majesty," but the prince is "Your royal highness." For ladies, curtseying is acceptable, but not required. One does not shake the queen's hand unless the queen offers her hand first.

And once her majesty finishes her meal, everyone's meal is finished. (Not to worry, said aides to Mr. Bush: "He's a really fast eater.") The guidebook also includes dietary restrictions; for the queen, said Anita McBride, Mrs. Bush's chief of staff, there was just one: "She doesn't like spicy food."