The Queen Mother is the guest of honour at a
special birthday service at St Paul's Cathedral
in London.
The service of thanksgiving and celebration,
which is being broadcast on BBC TV and radio,
is one of the events to formally mark her 100th
birthday on 4 August.
Virtually the entire royal family is attending
together with several foreign kings and
queens, political leaders, friends and
representatives of the several hundred
charities of which the Queen Mother remains
patron.
Also among the 2,500 guests are other
centenarians from all over the country who
share the Queen Mother's 100th birthday year.
Prime Minister Tony Blair will also be present
along with other leading politicians and
diplomats.
The Prince of Wales, with his sons 18-year-old
Prince William and Prince Harry, 15, are arrived
with the Queen Mother for the 45-minute
service.
Royal honour
Among the centenarians joining in the
celebration are former missionary Walter
Leach, from Somerton in Somerset, who
celebrated his own 100th birthday in June.
Mr Leach, who now works as a stained-glass
maker, said: "I am so pleased to have been
invited. I don't expect to be able to meet the
Queen Mother to talk to but you never know.
"I think we have a wonderful Royal Family. I am
sure they do a tremendous amount for people
we don't even hear about."
The celebratory service includes some of the
Queen Mother's favourite hymns and readings,
and she will lead a royal procession from the
cathedral.
Heading the royal guest list is the Queen and
the Duke of Edinburgh; Princess Margaret, with
Viscount and Viscountess Linley; the Duke of
York, with daughters Princess Beatrice, 11,
and Princess Eugenie, 10; the Princess Royal,
with son Peter Phillips, 22; the Earl and
Countess of Wessex; Duke and Duchess of
Gloucester; Duke and Duchess of Kent; Prince
and Princess Michael of Kent, with Lord
Frederick Windsor, 21, and Lady Gabriella
Windsor, 19; and Princess Alexandra and Sir
Angus Ogilvy.
Foreign royals attending were King Albert and
Queen Paola of Belgium; King Harald and Queen
Sonja of Norway; Grand Duke Jean and Grand
Duchess Josephine-Charlotte of Luxembourg;
ex-King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie of
Greece; ex-King Michael and Queen Anne of
Romania; and Prince Carlos Hugo of Bourbon
Parma.
~*~
Bahraini princess elopes disguised as a
US Marine(Electronic Telegraph)
By Simon Davis in Los Angeles
A DAUGHTER of Bahrain's royal family has eloped to America, disguised as
a US Marine, to marry a member of the corps at a Las Vegas chapel.
The couple, L/Cpl Jason Johnson, 25, and Princess Meriam Al Khalifa, 19,
met at a shopping mall in Bahrain, where the marine was stationed as part of a
counter-terrorism unit providing security for expatriate Americans.
For several months, as they courted in secret, she hid the fact that she was the
daughter of Sheikh Abdulla al-Khalifa, a cousin of the head of state, Emir
Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, and holds the title sheikha (princess). When their
relationship emerged, her family forbade her from seeing him, but they stayed
in contact by telephone and when the lance corporal's tour of duty was
coming to an end decided to try to leave together.
Using his night-vision goggles, L/Cpl Johnson examined the security
procedures at Bahrain airport and noticed that, while Bahrainis were asked
for their passports, US Marines were not. Disguising her as a fellow marine,
dressed in "grunge" clothes and with a New York Yankees cap to hide her
long hair, he obtained false military papers to get her past Bahraini officials.
The ruse worked as far as Chicago, where Immigration and Naturalisation
Service officials confronted them. She requested political asylum, insisting that
she would face persecution for breaking an Islamic taboo. Princess al-Khalifa
said: "I did the worst thing possible in my country, to fall in love with a
non-Muslim. To make it even worse, he's an American."
She convinced the INS that she had a credible fear of being harmed, and was
allowed into the country. Two weeks later, the sheikh's daughter and the son
of a lorry driver married in Las Vegas. They now live in spartan government
housing at Camp Pendleton, a huge contrast from life in a Bahraini palace.
The princess's application for asylum, which is opposed by the US
government, is continuing, with the next hearing in San Diego later this month.
Her husband, who has been demoted by the Marine Corps to private first
class for the escapade, said: "I think they'd kill her if she ever returned."