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Security high for Diana concert
01/07/2007 14:14 - (SA)
London - Police tightened security at London's Wembley stadium Sunday as music fans flocked to a star-studded concert in memory of Princess Diana, a day after Britain went on maximum terror alert.
More than 60 000 revellers were due to join Princes William and Harry for the six-hour long extravaganza in memory of their late mother, who would have been 46 years old this weekend.
Extra security measures were ordered after a double car bombing plot was foiled in London Friday followed by an attack at Glasgow airport in which a blazing car rammed into the main terminal building.
On Saturday the government raised the national threat level to "critical," the highest possible meaning that another attack is expected "imminently."
The Diana concert would be an obvious target. "Policing terms for this event have been thoroughly reviewed by the command team," said a spokesperson for Scotland Yard, which is coordinating response to the London failed attacks.
"There will be an appropriate policing plan in place," he adding, saying that some 450 officers would be deployed.
'Incredible night'
Prince William, who turned 25 on June 21, predicted it would be "an incredible night" of music after watching preparations being made Saturday for the event.
Performers were to include Diana's favourites like Duran Duran and Supertramp as well as Sir Elton John, whom the brothers hope will sing the version of "Candle in the Wind" that he performed at Diana's 1997 funeral.
"We're really excited by it," Prince William told a press conference after watching singer Joss Stone and her band perform a 20-minute sound check in the pouring rain.
"It's pretty amazing, we're very lucky to have (Stone) and everybody else that's singing along," he said.
Prince William has told the BBC that he and Harry, 22, believed that a concert was a more fitting tribute to their mother - dubbed "the people's princess" by Tony Blair - than just a church memorial service.
"We wanted something that would really bring her whole spirit - her joy of life and everything that we thought she stood for," Prince William said in the interview broadcast last month.
Diana was known for her charity work, particularly in the fight on behalf of sufferers of Aids or victims of landmines. The concert will raise money for the charities close to her heart as well as those supported by her sons.
Top performers
Nearly two dozen performers have signed up for the concert.
They include Status Quo and Rod Stewart, US rapper Kanye West, British singers James Morrison, Natasha Bedingfield and Lily Allen, US rock band Orson and British pop act The Feeling.
British singer Bryan Ferry and US rapper Pharrell Williams will appear, while composer Andrew Lloyd Webber will stage a medley of songs from his musicals and the English National Ballet will perform.
In a BBC interview broadcast Friday, Harry was grateful that Sir Elton had agreed to play at the concert.
"Obviously a personal request from us is to do Candle in the Wind again. So hopefully he'll be playing that," he said.
Security has been beefed up across Britain since Friday, and on Sunday Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed the country would not yield to the "evil of terror."
Diana married Prince Charles, heir to the throne, in 1981. The couple separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.
Diana was killed in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997, along with boyfriend Dodi Fayed and his chauffeur Henri Paul.
- AFP
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South Africa
