Charles, Camilla begin U.S. visit at ground zero

The prince said U.S.-British bonds are strengthened by grief caused by terrorism.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Under unseasonably balmy November sunshine, small but enthusiastic crowds greeted Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, as the couple began their first joint trip to the United States by paying tribute Tuesday to victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
It wasn't exactly the frenzy that welcomed Charles 20 years ago on a U.S. tour that saw his late, radiant wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, dancing with John Travolta at a White House dinner.
But several hundred onlookers who gathered at ground zero to see the royal couple, who tied the knot in April, were supportive.
"He really does care about people, but a lot of people think, 'Oh, he's a prince, what does he know about us, what does he care?'" said Nancy Hodl, a 59-year-old retired secretary from New Jersey.
On a trip designed to underline trans-Atlantic ties, Charles paid tribute to victims of terrorism and said the attacks in New York in 2001 and in London on July 7 helped strengthen the bond.
"Both our nations have been united by grief and strengthened by the support we have given each other," the prince said at a reception for supporters of a memorial garden for the 67 Britons who died when the hijacked jets slammed into the twin towers.
Charles later attended a round table at the United Nations and appealed to business leaders to help millions of young people find jobs. He and Camilla also attended a celebrity-studded reception at the Museum of Modern Art.
Visit to ground zero
The couple began their U.S. tour by traveling by limousine from their chartered jet to ground zero, the vast site where the World Trade Center once stood. They viewed the site and visited a room full of mementos left by families of the victims.
The prince said he and his wife were "profoundly moved by what we saw -- not just the scale of the outrage but the deeply distressing individual stories of heroism and of loss."
At nearby Hanover Square, the couple unveiled the cornerstone to the memorial garden. They walked around to greet some of the several hundred well-wishers and onlookers who gathered behind barricades at the square, named for King George I of Hanover. The garden, due to be completed next summer, is designed as a green corner of Britain in Manhattan, with topiary trees, boxwood hedges and a sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor.
Alexandra Clarke, a Briton whose daughter Suria died Sept. 11, said the prince was "quietly and personally very kind" to families of the victims.
"They're both very relaxed people," said Clarke, who met the couple at a private reception for British victims' relatives. "They were really genuinely interested in hearing the stories that people had to tell."
Duchess' image
The duchess seemed at ease, smiling broadly as she accepted a bouquet of flowers from a small girl. Camilla, who has been trying to project a more glamorous image, wore a dark rose Italian wool crepe jacket and dress with velvet chiffon trim by designer Roy Allen.
Later, at the museum reception, the duchess had the chance to showcase another of the 40 outfits she brought -- a navy blue velvet cocktail dress with a cream chiffon collar by British designer Anthony Price. The weeklong U.S. trip will also include meetings with hurricane victims in New Orleans, homeless people in San Francisco and organic farmers in Marin County, Calif.
Guests enjoying the reception's champagne and organic canap & eacute;s with the couple included Donald Trump, Sting, Yoko Ono, TV newswomen Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters, former tennis star John McEnroe, actors Matthew Modine and Joan Collins, and New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
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