On a side note, someone mentioned the Queen and as luck would have it, Her Majesty visited our small town in Scotland today.
We live right next to Melrose Abbey, where the heart of Robert the Bruce is buried, and the Queen began her visit there. She walked through the center of the village and collected bouquets at random from children- she has an aide who runs along behind her who then takes the flowers from her so the Queen doesn't have to carry them. She and the Duke of Edinburgh exchanged pleasantries with the throngs lining the street.
I was only an arm's length away from both the Queen and the Duke at one point as they passed and it was interesting for me, as an American, to see the way the people reacted to her. It was forty years since her last visit here and you could really feel the excitement as people turned out to experience a "once in a lifetime" event, as many of them termed it. What I found especially interesting about the whole thing was the amount of distance everybody (including her own entourage) kept from her when she was walking in the open- she approached the people at the barriers when she wanted but nobody approached her unless she gestured for them to do so.
The Queen herself looks exactly like she always does on the telly and she wore a light green dress with matching hat. Prince Phillip looked somewhat older and I hate to say- crustier- than the television lets on. He was still quite chatty with the crowd though and made several people laugh at something he said (although I didn't catch what it was).
She went on to have lunch in the town and then presided over a 7 per side Rugby match and presented the trophy to the winning team Captain. A few more various displays from local organizations and then she and the Duke got back into the Rolls and left, followed by the entourage of nabobs who showed up and all the assembled television crews.
I know all that was totally off the topic of this thread- sorry...