Taking Pains For Royalty

[Doug Harris]

The Queen -- THE Queen, not the singing group -- is visiting the
former colonies. Protocol issues are many, varied, and often
ludicrous. But there you are.
Among those undoubtedly delighted by the visit are the makers of
Purell, which gained verb status in today's Washington Post:

"So will Children's [National Medical Center] serve the queen tea -- or a
juice box? (Probably tea, Bowens says: "Lipton works for us," but they
expect to offer British and green teas, too.) Is it proper to Purell royalty
before she meets kids on the cardiac unit? (No need, Bowens says. The
playroom she's visiting is not susceptible to infection.)"
---
One would hope that _these_ tea-servers won't make the same error of
certain White House personnel when Prince Charles was served tea there
during the Reagan years. As reported in the newly-published diaries kept,
in hand-written form, by that president, as reported on by Reuters:
' "The ushers brought him tea -- horror of horrors they served it our way
with a tea bag in the cup." [Reagan] said the prince admitted, "I didn't
know what to do with it." '
(the other) doug

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