BBC NEWS | UK | Palace concert goes ahead despite fire

The Golden Jubilee celebrations will continue on Monday with the highlight - a star-studded pop concert - going ahead despite a fire at Buckingham Palace.

An inquiry has been launched into the blaze, which started in the west wing of the Palace on Sunday evening while rehearsals were under way in the gardens for the pop spectacular.

No members of the Royal Family were in residence at the time, and the hundreds of staff, workmen and performers escaped to safety unhurt.

Nationwide Jubilee celebrations will continue on Monday, while the Queen is due to carry out a series of official engagements in Windsor and Slough.

Show goes on

In the evening, the celebrations will focus on Buckingham Palace, where 12,000 people will attend a concert featuring stars such as Sir Cliff Richard and the Beach Boys.

And the party will continue late into the night as pubs around England and Wales stay open until 0100BST on Tuesday.

Palace officials insisted the fire, which was brought under control within an hour, would not spoil preparations for the much-awaited event.
Monday's main Jubilee events
1100: Start of BBC Music Live festival, Hyde Park
1300: Nationwide festivities officially begin with gun salute in Hyde Park
1930: Pop concert, Buckingham Palace
2230: Firework display, Buckingham Palace and Green Park
2300 BST onwards: Pubs can legally stay open until 0100 Tuesday

Police say results of the investigations into the cause will not be known until Monday morning at the earliest, but arson is not suspected.

The fire broke out in the loft of the West Terrace at 1841 BST, but was contained in a small area. Palace sources say it started in a disused toilet.

Simon Walker, Buckingham Palace's director of communications, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there was some damage to carpets, but the Queen's treasures, art works and artefacts were unscathed.

"Fortunately the fire detection system worked very well and very quickly," he said.

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"The fire was controlled rapidly and covered only a small area within the Palace."

Queen guitarist Brian May said he had been about to rehearse with Joe Cocker when the evacuation began.

He told BBC News 24: "It was all going extremely well ... then everything ground to a halt."

Street parties

Among those scheduled to perform for 12,000 guests and a live television audience are Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Sir Cliff Richard, Ozzy Osbourne, Sir Elton John, Aretha Franklin and SClub.

Brian May will open the concert by playing "God Save the Queen" from the palace roof and supporters around the world are expected to light a chain of 2,000 beacons, culminating in a display of fireworks launched from atop the palace.

A total of 1,600 beacons will be lit both in the UK and across the Commonwealth.

The British Army has lit one from the top of Mount Kenya, near to the Treetops Hotel, where Princess Elizabeth learned that she was to become Queen.

Brian May will open the concert
In Windsor, the Queen and her husband Prince Philip will watch a parade reflecting the 50 years of her reign, while hundreds of street parties are expected to begin around the country.

Festivities across Britain will officially begin at 1300 BST with a nationwide peal of bells to herald the beginning of the 'people's party'.

The playing of the Beatle's hit All You Need is Love will signal the launch of the Commonwealth music festival in Hyde Park and across the country.

And on the Tube in London at four Jubilee Line stations - Stratford, North Greenwich, Canary Wharf and Westminster - a series of live concerts, will be held.

England's World Cup squad is expected to send a Golden Jubilee message to the Queen on Monday.

The footballers, who drew 1-1 with Sweden in their opening game in Japan on Sunday, were sending the Queen best wishes and congratulations on her 50-year reign.

The video message is set to be shown on a giant screen in Slough when the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visit the town square to launch a nationwide Jubilee music party.

The festivities round off after the pop concert with a 14-minute firework display, some of which are being set off from the roof of Buckingham Palace.


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