AP Features, January 28th, 2007
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla mixed historic sightseeing with an inner-city art tour and white-tie concert in Philadelphia, the first stop during their whirlwind three-day visit to the United States.
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall mingled with well-wishers, accepting flowers and gifts and charming many in the various crowds that gathered to see them Saturday.
The prince used the trip to learn more about community programs that address urban renewal, youth development and the environment, causes dear to him and his 17 charitable foundations.
"I don't think he gets enough credit for all he's doing," Pennsylvania first lady Midge Rendell said after the prince spoke at a champagne reception at the National Constitution Center.
The prince was a good sport in the face of ribbing about U.S. independence from Britain _ declared in Philadelphia more than two centuries ago _ and spent most of the reception working the crowd, talking with attendees about their various community projects.
"I'm enormously proud to be walking in my great-great-grandfather's footsteps," Prince Charles said, referring to the 1860 visit to Philadelphia by the future King Edward VII.
His ancestor, at age 18, was seated in the same box at the Academy of Music that Charles and Camilla sat in during the academy's 150th anniversary concert Saturday night. The duchess wore a wine-red velvet gown to the white-tie event, which featured classical music, opera selections, pop songs by Rod Stewart and a medley of show tunes by actor John Lithgow.
The couple sat with Gov. Ed Rendell and his wife; former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and his wife; and philanthropist Leonore Annenberg, wife of the late publisher Walter Annenberg, who served as the United States' ambassador to Britain.
In a noontime visit to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, Charles and Camilla spoke with a group of fifth-graders about their research on the historic icon, and the duchess ran her hand along the bell's storied crack.
Camilla wore a periwinkle dress and a brown tweed overcoat with faux fur cuffs and a brooch, along with pearls and pearl drop earrings. Prince Charles sported a navy suit with a red, blue and gold striped tie, and a dark overcoat.
The couple later visited an impoverished city neighborhood to view a three-story mural that celebrates the virtues of reading, one of 2,700 created through the city's signature Mural Arts Program.
At International House, a college dormitory mainly for foreign students, the duchess had tea with a few young women in a small kitchenette.
"She seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say," said Victoria Frings, 21, who attends the University of Pennsylvania.
Her husband spent the time in a round-table discussion with students on urban renewal.
On Sunday, the prince and duchess plan to attend services at Arch Street Presbyterian Church, spiritual home of the Welsh community in Philadelphia.
They are then scheduled to take a private train about 90 miles (145 kilometers) to New York City, where they plan to visit a social services agency in Harlem and Prince Charles is to receive an award from Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment.
The prince and duchess last came to the United States in November 2005, when they visited the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and saw the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
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Associated Press writer Kathy Matheson contributed to this report.
