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Royals Gather to Mark Queen Mother's Centenary
Kings and queens from across Europe will join senior members of Britain"s own royal family on Tuesday for a thanksgiving service in celebration of the Queen Mother"s 100th birthday next month.
The service is one of a series of events being staged this summer to mark the Queen Mother"s landmark August 4 birthday.
The tribute at St Paul"s Cathedral in central London will be the formal celebration -- plenty of other parties are planned -- and will be attended by the big names in the House of Windsor.
Among the guests will be both her daughters, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, heir to the throne Prince Charles and his two sons William and Harry, the queen"s husband Prince Philip, and an array of the Queen Mother"s youngest descendants.
Also present will be a clutch of more ordinary centenarians, all of whom were born in the same year as the nation"s favourite royal, and Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Royals and ex-royals from Belgium, Norway, Luxembourg, Greece and Romania have also been invited to hear the celebrated choir and witness the pageantry laid on for the "Queen Mum."
Before all that gets underway, the Queen Mother, who walks with a stick, is expected to salute well-wishers outside the cathedral -- if both the weather and her health permit.
Known as a traditionalist link to the wartime generation, the Queen Mother retains a strong following in Britain, where many younger royals have lost their cachet in public life following a string of scandals and infighting at the top.
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