Fire fails to put damper on weekend of celebrations

Until a fire broke out at Buckingham Palace, jubilee celebrations had been going rather well for the House of Windsor.

The Royal Family had filled 12,000 seats for a classical concert at the palace on Saturday, and preparations were well in hand for the pop concert tonight, featuring Sir Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton. But yesterday was intended to be the quietest of the four days, and was going that way, before hundreds of people were ushered from potential danger, including many of the performers for today's concert.

The emergency services were called when rising smoke was first seen, and the building and then its grounds were emptied, the first time it has happened since the Second Worold War. The Queen, who was staying at Windsor Castle, was told of what was happening and 100 firefighters were brought in to tackle the flames. Jamie Theakston, the BBC presenter who will be compering tomorrow's show, said: "We didn't see very much. We were in the middle of rehearsing when it happened, but everyone was very calm. The evacuation was quick and well organised."

The musicians returned to rehearsals last night after officials gave the all-clear and the palace announced the concert would definitely be going ahead. There was water damage to carpets, caused by burst pipes, and a glazed ceiling and a plaster ceiling have been damaged near the state rooms, which are used regularly by the the royals for entertaining

After the no-show by the Cabinet at the classical concert, Tony Blair, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, and Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, are all expected to be in the crowd tonight to watch an unlikely array of pop stars from the television Pop Idol winner, Will Young, and S Club 7 to Sir Cliff Richard and Ozzy Osbourne.

Buckingham Palace had extended a "generic invitation" to Cabinet ministers who wanted to attend the opening night of the official jubilee festivities. None had taken up the offer.

Several ministers will attend a thanksgiving service at St Paul's Cathedral tomorrow morning, followed by a jubilee lunch at the Guildhall. But aides of the Tory leader, Iain Duncan Smith, who was at the classical concert, believed their man had scored a public relations coup. One said last night: "He felt it was the main event of the jubilee. He regarded it as a great honour and privilege to be there."

Earlier yesterday, the Queen witnessed the signing of a covenant on Christian unity by four church leaders at a church service in Windsor Castle.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, was joined by Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor; the Free Churches Moderator, the Rev Anthony Burnham; and the Rev Esme Beswick of the Anglo-Caribbean Council of Churches. While the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh attended St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, other family members went to services around the country.

Prince William and Prince Harry were in Swansea, representing the Queen at St Mary's Church.

A chain of 2,000 beacons and bonfires will be lit around the world to mark the jubilee concert tonight, ending with a fireworks display launched from the roof of the palace.

After the hot spells over the weekend forecasters said it was likely to be much cooler today and tomorrow, when the Queen and Prince Philip will ride through London in a golden coach, to St Paul's.

Meanwhile, a German magazine, Der Spiegel, has launched anattack on the Royal Family timed to coincide with the jubilee. In an article entitled "The last Queen ­ Britain celebrates its fading monarchy", the weekly magazine described the Queen as "a wilted leaf".

The magazine claims Britain has "shrunk to European mediocrity". The article says: "The Queen is a nondescript little housewife of 76 who no longer needs Concorde or a state-sponsored yacht to reach the distant corners of her realm. The country she represents has long since shrunk to European mediocrity."