The list of celebrities in town during the 133rd Kentucky Derby got a royal addition today when the U.S. Secret Service confirmed it is preparing for a visit by Queen Elizabeth II to Louisville on the first Saturday in May.
Paul Johnson, special agent in charge of the agency’s Louisville field office, said he couldn’t confirm details of the planned trip, but he acknowledged that the timing would coincide with the Kentucky Derby and that Churchill Downs would be a logical stop.
“Right now all we’ve been informed of is that we should expect a visit from the Queen the first weekend in May,” Johnson said in an interview this morning. “We’re kind of filling in the blanks with some assumptions.”
The British government already has announced that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will visit the United States in early May to mark the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown, Va.
Queen Elizabeth II has made at least four previous trips to Kentucky, but she has never attended the Run for the Roses. Past visits have included stops at Lane’s End Farm, which is owned by William S. Farish, the former Ambassador to Great Britain.
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