New York, July 06: Just as they emerge from a long weekend celebrating America’s independence from Britain, the citizens of New York will pause today to welcome Queen Elizabeth II into their midst before she addresses the General Assembly of the United Nations and take a tour of ground zero where the Twin Towers once stood.
That Her Majesty will receive a warm welcome at the UN where she last delivered a speech more than five decades ago in 1957 is not in question. The giant hall will be filled with the representatives of the 192 member nations, with a smattering of special guests drawn from the British community in Manhattan, like Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief of Marie-Claire magazine, and The Daily Beast founder Tina Brown.
With temperatures expected to brush 38C, it will be a warm welcome and a day when even the hardiest will wilt. But British sangfroid will be maintained. “We have not taken any particular steps to cope with the temperature,” one British spokesperson said last night. It has been established, however, that Ground Zero, now sprouting new skyscrapers and a memorial almost nine years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, will be in the shade by the time the Queen, who is 84, arrives there with her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.
–Agencies