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Royal two tour ground zero

Visit accents substance over frivolity

New York — Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, began a weeklong U.S. tour Tuesday with a visit to ground zero and the unveiling of a memorial to British victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

American reaction to the couple on their first official overseas trip since they married in April was subdued, contrasting with visits by the late Princess Diana, who was a public sensation during her first trip here two decades ago. A recent CNN/USA Today poll found that about four in five Americans are not interested in this royal visit.

Charles and Diana divorced in 1996; Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris the next year.

The trip, with stops in New York, Washington, New Orleans and San Francisco, is intended to promote British-American relations and attract attention to Charles' concerns about the environment and education.

New York Gov. George Pataki and several hundred people greeted the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at the World Trade Center site Tuesday afternoon. One woman held a sign showing the couples' faces on a background of the British flag and reading, "To our royal visitors — welcome."

At nearby Hanover Square — named for King George I, Elector of Hanover — the couple unveiled a center stone for a British-style memorial garden to honor the 67 Britons slain in the attacks. The garden is to be completed in the summer.

"Our hearts go out to you today," said Charles, who spoke with relatives of the Sept. 11 victims. He said the trip to ground zero moved him and Camilla not just because of "the scale of the outrage, but the deeply distressing individual stories of heroism and of loss."

Speaking of the July transit bombings in London, Charles said Britain and the United States had been "united by grief and strengthened by the support we have given each other."

Charles, 56, the heir to the British throne, visited the United States last year for the funeral of former President Ronald Reagan. His last official U.S. tour was in 1994.

Camilla, who has been projecting a more glamorous image, wore a dark rose Italian wool crepe jacket and dress with velvet chiffon trim by designer Roy Allen.

Later, at a reception at the Museum of Modern Art, the duchess had the chance to showcase another of the 40 outfits she brought for the weeklong trip.

Guests invited to enjoy champagne and organic canapes with the couple at the museum included Robert De Niro, Steven Spielberg, Sting, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and actress Kim Cattrall.

Camilla did not join Charles in the afternoon when he headed to the United Nations, where he was greeted by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The prince recalled that the last time the two met was in 1997, soon after Annan became the U.N. chief, and Charles jokingly noted "how, like the secretary-general, we all become grayer and grayer as time goes by."

On a more serious note, he appealed to about 200 businesspeople to serve as mentors to younger folks and help them find employment, noting that in the Middle East alone, 100 million jobs will have to be created in the next 20 years just for new entrants to the job market.

"In my view, the great long-term challenges today, apart from the most urgent need to tackle climate change, is creating meaningful employment for young people," Charles said.

Charles and Camilla start a three-day visit to Washington today that begins with lunch and dinner at the White House with President Bush and first lady Laura Bush. The trip also includes visits to seminars, receptions and a ceremony to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The couple will meet people affected by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans on Friday.

They then travel to California for meetings with community and business leaders and to attend events involving environmental issues such as organic farming. They also plan to attend a San Francisco performance of "Beach Blanket Babylon," a long-running musical spoof of pop culture.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.