Charles and Camilla dine with Bush in Washington

WASHINGTON - Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, visited the White House today on their first formal trip together to the US capital, where memories of the late Princess Diana are still strong.

President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush were hosting the royal couple for lunch and dinner, and Mrs. Bush accompanied Charles and Camilla on a visit to the SEED School, a public boarding school that offers intensive academic education to urban students.

They were attended by the customary monster press pack at the school in economically depressed southeast Washington, where they toured two classrooms and other facilities.

In Melanie Brown's eighth-grade English class, both royals seemed comfortable as they chatted with groups of students. Camilla asked how the food was - "Horrible with a capital 'H'" was the answer - how much homework they had and how they were punished when they misbehaved.

The prince asked whether they were allowed to go home for weekends and watch television. "Too many channels to choose from," Charles said.

The couple had just come from an intimate lunch at the White House, where they were served watercress soup, lemon sole and apple sorbet. 

Charles and Camilla were scheduled for a three-day stay in Washington, with visits to the National Institutes of Health, Georgetown University, the National Building Museum and the Second World War Memorial.

This is the second leg on a week-long US tour that began in New York City and will include stops in New Orleans and San Francisco.

In New York, the couple visited Manhattan's Ground Zero and dedicated the British Memorial Garden to honor victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Washington has traditionally been warm to British royalty, but particularly took to Diana, the prince's late ex-wife, who was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997.

At a gala in 1990, she attracted hundreds to a US$3,500-a-plate gala to benefit the London City Ballet, the Washington Ballet and a Washington home for children with AIDS.

Perhaps the best-recalled Washington moment for Diana came in 1985, when she danced at the White House with actor John Travolta. The mystique of that event was such that the figure-hugging gown she wore eventually sold for US$225,500 at a charity auction.

Camilla, who married Charles in April after a 35-year love affair, has been lampooned in some American newspapers. Unlike Diana, who drew the spotlight and sometimes upstaged her husband, the Duchess of Cornwall has seemed content to be part of a duo.

The royal couple will be in Washington through Friday.

- REUTERS