Obama, advisers polishing their etiquette and gift delivery skills

Washington, Mar.29 (ANI): Top advisers to President Barack Obama are rehearsing etiquette and debating what gifts the President will give to Queen Elizabeth during their meeting in London next week. The gifts have been selected with extra care, protocol lessons on royal etiquette are being delivered and a week's wardrobe of casual and formal attire set aside for a first lady who is also an international style icon.

President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle head to London on Tuesday to start their first overseas tour in office, accompanied by an entourage of several hundred aides, advisors, secret service agents and bodyguards and an imported cavalcade of armoured vehicles and helicopters.

A visit to Buckingham Palace on Wednesday afternoon is the formal showpiece of a packed working schedule of back-to-back summits - the G-20 in London, Nato in Strasbourg and EU-US in Prague - plus and bilateral meetings with world leaders, including Gordon Brown in Downing St.The Obamas will attend a private audience with the Queen in her personal apartments for nearly 30 minutes before joining other delegations for a reception in the state rooms. They are receiving advice on protocol for the encounter at the presidential retreat, Camp David, this weekend.

The White House is attempting to pick out an appropriate gift for the Queen that will reflect her long-standing links to the US, a Washington official told The Sunday Telegraph. (ANI)