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WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (CBS News) ― Queen Elizabeth II visited the Jamestown Settlement on Friday.

Accompanied by Vice President Dick Cheney, the queen walked into the area thronged with well-wishers. She was joined by Gov. Tim Kaine and former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

In short speeches, O'Connor noted the continuing close relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, and Cheney welcomed the queen on behalf of President Bush and the United States of America. He called the arrival of the colonists at Jamestown "a providential moment in the life of this nation."

The queen and the Cheneys will also attend a lunch in Williamsburg in her honor.

After that, she visits the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg before leaving for Louisville, Ky., where she'll watch the Kentucky Derby tomorrow. The queen will visit President Bush next week in Washington.

The queen arrived Thursday for the commemoration of Jamestown's 400th anniversary and praised the cultural changes that have occurred since she last visited America's first permanent English settlement 50 years ago.

The last time the queen helped Virginia mark the anniversary of its colonial founding, it was an all-white affair in a still-segregated state. Thursday's visit was starkly different.

CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports that the queen's speech was an unprecedented recognition that America's diversity started at the very beginning of American history.

"Those early years in Jamestown, when three great civilizations came together for the first time — Western European, Native American and African — released a train of events, which continues to have a profound social impact," the queen said in speech to the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond, the first stop on her visit.

"Over the course of my reign, and certainly since I first visited Jamestown in 1957, my country has become a much more diverse society, just as the commonwealth of Virginia and the whole United States of America have also undergone a major social change," she said. "The melting pot metaphor captures one of the great strengths of your country and is an inspiration to others around the world as we face the continuing social challenges ahead."

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said the message couldn't be more timely or appropriate.

"This is a moment that brings Virginia together. That will be very apparent on Capitol Square today, with folks from all over Virginia coming together for this remarkable moment and coming in the aftermath of a hard time," Kaine said at a news conference, referring to the April 16 massacre at Virginia Tech.

Before she departed for Williamsburg, the queen met privately with some of those wounded in the Virginia Tech shooting and the families of some of the 32 students and faculty slain.

"My heart goes out to the students, friends and families of those killed and to the many others who have been affected, some of whom I shall be meeting shortly," she said during the Capitol address. "On behalf of the people of the United Kingdom, I extend my deepest sympathies at this time of such grief and sorrow."

The plane carrying the 81-year-old queen landed in mid-afternoon, and 20 minutes later she emerged with her husband, Prince Philip.

Hundreds of people stood in lines for hours in a cool drizzle, some since dawn, to enter the grounds of the freshly refurbished 219-year-old Capitol.

"How often do you get to see the reigning monarch, much less in your own town?" said Keith Gary, the first spectator through the gates.

And while the queen represents a monarchy the United States went to some trouble to get rid of, her visit is prompting excitement and anticipation about the special relationship that exists between the Mother Country and her rebellious child.

As has often been the case with the queen's previous trips to the U.S., she will be feted by politicians and the public. America always rolls out its best for the queen, and she seems to enjoy herself when she's here.

Society Editor Victoria Mather says the queen has a deep affection for the United States:

"America has been our ally, and our friend, very particularly during the 20th century, and has fought beside us during two world wars. I don't think the colonial aspect of it is particularly interesting to her, other than in a historical sense."

These visits always end up stressing similarities between the two nations, not the differences.

"What Elizabeth represents is that tradition of moderated, level-headed representative government, which is the common glory of the English-speaking world," said royal historian Dr. David Starkey.

Part of her appeal is her longevity — Elizabeth has already been through 10 American presidents dating back to Eisenhower. And while, by definition, she stays away from politics, she does have political uses.

On a California trip in 1983, her presence allowed a Republican President Ronald Reagan to draw a crowd of adoring West Coast liberal celebrities.

A current president with flagging popularity might also benefit from her reflected glory.

Victoria Mather agrees that the queen can serve a political use for her American hosts: "I think it would be very unrealistic to deny that. I should think George Bush will milk it for every cent he can get out of it."

Richmond officials have spent days frantically preparing for their first royal visit.

British, U.S. and state security teams began securing Capitol Square and streets around it Wednesday while work crews erected video screens the size of stadium scoreboards so the masses outside will be able to see the queen's speech to a joint session of the Senate and House of Delegates.

For much of Richmond's downtown work force, the queen's visit meant a day off, and many expected to spend it on the Capitol's sloping South Lawn before her mid-afternoon arrival listening to musical acts as diverse as jazz ensembles, a marching band and Grammy-winning bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley.

In the former Confederate capital, a favored venue for history buffs, British flags sprouted everywhere this week and business began picking up. Terry O'Neill, owner of the Beatles-influenced Penny Lane Pub in Richmond, said Virginia is learning what Londoners have always known: Britain's royals create big tourism bucks.

"We're running specials on cottage pie, bangers 'n' mash, fish and chips," said O'Neill. "You'd think the queen was going to walk in here tomorrow and say 'Party of four, please.'"

Across downtown, the River City Diner and its hard-partying younger clientele planned to mark the day with the alcohol-rich "Royal Cape Shooter." A large sign beckoned Her Majesty with the invitation, "QUEEN EATS FOR FREE."

State officials, however, took pains to steer the royal entourage clear of the juncture of Main and 15th streets, a few blocks from the Capitol. There, two stories high and covering the outside brick wall of a strip club, is a fading black-and-white painting of her late daughter-in-law, Princess Diana.

On Friday, she is to tour the site where, 400 years ago, Jamestown became the first permanent English settlement in America. The royal couple is due at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday and will visit President Bush in Washington next week.

The venerable Churchill Downs, a colorful playground of the rich and famous, is never more festive than on the first Saturday of May, when high-born and low meet for the annual Run for the Roses. With the queen attending her first Kentucky Derby, Louisville is putting its best foot forward.

In addition to increasing security requirements around the race course, track workers attended etiquette class to avoid any social faux pas when in the queen's presence, while the track's executive chef planned a sumptuous Southern-style meal featuring some Kentucky favorites.

"It says something about the Derby that it has universal appeal from the royals to us regular folks," said Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.

It's not quite clear though how much the "regular" race-going public or the large audience watching on TV will see of her.

And though the queen has never attended the Kentucky Derby, she has visited the Bluegrass State a number of times before, namely to a horse farm in Lexington where she has taken her mares to be mated, according to her former spokesman Dickie Arbiter.

"It's going to be a great day for her. We have to remember, she is 81, so she's allowed a little bit of downtime between this sort of rather hectic state visit and the derby is the downtime," Arbiter said on The Early Show Friday.

She also will visit NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the National World War II Memorial in Washington before heading home on Tuesday.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)