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| Agence France-Presse/Getty Images |
| A woman protesting against the state visit of President Bush, which begins today, clung to the front gate of Buckingham Palace last night. |
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| Associated Press |
| Prince Charles met President Bush last night at Heathrow Airport in London as Mr. Bush began a state visit. The president's schedule includes meetings with Prime Minister Tony Blair about the situation in Iraq.
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LONDON, Nov. 18 — President Bush arrived in Britain tonight at the beginning of a four-day state visit that will pit the pageantry of royal ceremony and vows of Anglo-American solidarity against attention-getting protest marches and demonstrations by tens of thousands of war objectors.
The President and his wife, Laura, were greeted at Heathrow Airport by Prince Charles as they descended from Air Force One shortly after it touched down at 7:22 p.m. London time. They then boarded the presidential helicopter, Marine One, for the 20 minute trip over suburban communities and Southwest London to Buckingham Palace, where they will spend the next three nights.
Palace officials said they were being greeted privately by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip before settling into their guest quarters in the ground floor Belgian Suite, which overlooks the elaborate palace garden.
The official state visit begins Wednesday morning with a ceremony of welcome from the Queen in a royal pavilion marquee that has been placed in the palace forecourt for the occasion. There will be ride pasts by the Household Cavalry in their plumed helmets and blue and red capes over shining breast plates, booming gun salutes from a nearby park, inspections of the Guard of Honor in their distinctive bearskin headgear and grey greatcoats and the playing of the American national anthem.
In contrast to this pomp and pageantry, there has been a torrent of negative comment about the timing of the visit and the steadfast alliance that Prime Minister Tony Blair has maintained with Mr. Bush in prosecuting an unpopular war. The British leader has hardly been acting the reluctant host, however, forcefully defending the Anglo-American military action in Iraq and praising the president for having identified terror as the threat of the 21st century and acted against it.
"The prime minister believes this is precisely the right time for President Bush to be visiting the country," his official spokesman said today. "He believes that the majority of people welcome President Bush, recognize the importance of the relationship with America and acknowledge the commitment it is showing to establish democracy in Iraq alongside our diplomats and soldiers."
The Downing Street spokesman pointed to an opinion poll in The Guardian that challenged the view that the visit is unpopular with Mr. Blair's party. The ICM survey, based on conversations with 1,002 adults between Nov. 14 and Nov. 16, showed that 43 percent of Labor voters welcomed Mr. Bush's arrival in Britain, as opposed to 36 who preferred he not come. Asked if America were "a force for good, not evil, in the world," 62 percent of all those questioned answered yes.
The spokesman said, "The prime minister believes it's important that the voice of those people supporting the visit is also heard along with that of the protesters and that of the government."
But Lindsey German of the Stop the War Coalition said that the voices that would predominate in the comings days would be those of the opponents of the war and of Mr. Bush's policies. The group, which organized a million-strong anti-invasion demonstration in Hyde Park in February is predicting 100,000 people will participate in a march through London's government center Thursday.
"Feelings are running very strongly, and the more we are told that we should welcome the President, the more opposition grows," she told the Press Association, Britain's domestic news agency. "We fully expect that over the next three days, the true view of the British people will become evident."
The Stop the War Coalition on Monday night persuaded the police to withdraw their objections to protests in the vicinity of government buildings, and its Thursday march will now be routed across Westminster Bridge, by the Houses of Parliament and along Whitehall, home to major ministries and 10 Downing Street, to its destination in Trafalgar Square.
Once there, they plan to unveil and then topple an 18-foot papier mache statue of President Bush, mocking the action of American soldiers who helped bring down a statue of Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad.
The marchers received backing from Charles Kennedy, leader of the third party Liberal Democrats, which opposed the invasion of Iraq. He said they should "use the opportunity to leave the President in no doubt as to the extent of public concern."
Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, also sent them a message of support but urged them to remain peaceful. "You have the moral high ground," he told them. "You are protesting against an illegal war and occupation, and the world will be watching you."
British police are mounting their biggest ever security operation for a foreign leader with 5,000 officers working 14,000 shifts on London' streets during the four-day stay.
Talks between Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair are expected to focus on the need to stabilize conflicted areas of Iraq where soldiers are coming under daily attack and on newly announced plans to speed the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis with a target date of June 30.
The two men will also be discussing two areas of contention between the transatlantic allies — the plan, now apparently suspended, to submit two of the nine Britons detained at the American camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to military tribunals, and the tariffs on European steel imposed by Mr. Bush in March, 2002 that were declared illegal by the World Trade Organization last week.
Mr. Bush will make a speech Wednesday to an invited audience in the Whitehall Banqueting Hall, and United States officials in Washington said he would use it to portray the invasion of Iraq as part of the larger mission to fight global terrorism and secure Middle East stability.
The President is to end his stay in Britain with a pub lunch Friday with local residents in Sedgefield, Mr. Blair's parliamentary district in County Durham in Northeast England.
