Скачать или смотреть Queen Royal - The REAL First Lady: Familiar presidents and blundering US officials

A major new book by the Mail's royal writer outlines the diplomatic role undertaken by the Queen during her unprecedented years of public service. Yesterday, he told what really happens when the royals embark on a foreign tour. Today, in the final part of our serialisation, he traces HM's own special relationship with the U.S.  For her very first trip to Florida — part of her 1991 state visit to America — the Royal Yacht had sailed in to Miami to rendezvous with the Queen.As Britannia's crew waited to greet her, they flushed through all the royal baths and heads (ship's lavatories), which was standard practice ahead of a royal arrival. Whereupon Britannia's captain suddenly had a furious official from the Miami port authority thumping on his door.The crew had just breached strict environmental regulations and the captain was handed a $10,000 (£7,700) fine plus an order to leave port within two hours.No matter that the Queen was due to host a state banquet on board that very evening, with two former U.S. presidents among the guests. Rules were rules. The Yacht would have to pack up and go.It was only after the direct intervention of the White House that Britannia was allowed to remain alongside. The banquet duly took place without further incident. The fabled 'special relationship' had worked its magic once again.It's a phrase, however, which is heard more often on this side of the Atlantic and there are commentators in both Britain and the U.S. who regard any notion of a 'special relationship' as sentimental, subservient wishful thinking on the part of the British Establishment.There have certainly been some strong individual pairings between No 10 and the White House, notably Churchill and Roosevelt, Thatcher and Reagan and, latterly, Blair and George W. Bush.However, historians will note that there has been a more subtle, yet more consistent, 'special relationship' operating between the White House and Buckingham Palace throughout the reign of Elizabeth II — even during periods of deep political division.Unlike the Queen's dealings with most countries, which have followed a well-established pattern, this is a friendship that has broken the bilateral mould. There can be few people in the U.S., let alone the rest of the world, who have lived through the administrations of 16 presidents — more than one-third of the total — and met 12 of them.Of the handful of private foreign holidays that the Queen has enjoyed in her life (all horse-related), five have been spent in the U.S.And in 2018, the Royal Family welcomed their first American Princess. Yet the Queen's own 'special relationship' goes back to the nursery.It was in 1939 that her parents travelled to Canada and the U.S. to bolster support for Britain ahead of impending hostilities in Europe. The royals rather enjoyed all the informality.The Queen wrote an excited letter to her daughters about a memorable picnic lunch: 'All our food on one plate — a little salmon, some turkey, some ham, lettuce,