LONDON (Reuters) – Rebekah Brooks, a trusted confidante of Rupert Murdoch and friend to a succession of British prime ministers, appears in a London court on Wednesday accused of hindering a police investigation into phone hacking and corruption by staff at his British tabloids.

Huge media interest is guaranteed for the first appearance in the dock of the 44-year-old, a former editor of two of Britain’s top-selling newspapers who counts the upper echelons of the British establishment and senior politicians in her network of friends.

LONDON (Reuters) – The Church of England attacked the British government’s plan to allow gay couples to marry, saying on Tuesday it was ill thought out and risked creating the biggest rift between the state and the Church for centuries.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s government wants to extend the full legal status of marriage to homosexuals, who have since 2005 been able to contract unions known as civil partnerships.

LONDON (Reuters) – The Queen waved from her Buckingham Palace balcony to the cheering masses on Tuesday and thanked millions of well-wishers at the end of four days of spectacular Diamond Jubilee celebrations marking her 60th year on the throne.

From the biggest flotilla seen on the River Thames for more than three centuries, a star-studded concert and a horse-drawn procession through the capital to street parties in towns, tiny villages and communities up and down the country, the Queen said the show of public affection had been “a humbling experience”.

LONDON (Reuters) – Four days of celebrations in which millions have turned out to mark Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years on the throne reach a finale on Tuesday with a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, a procession through London and a wave from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

For once, the 86-year-old British monarch will not be accompanied to a grand state occasion by her husband of 64 years, Prince Philip, who was taken to hospital on Monday with a bladder infection as her Diamond Jubilee drew to a close.

LONDON (Reuters) – Four days of nationwide celebrations during which millions of people have turned out to mark the Queen’s 60 years on the throne conclude on Tuesday with a church service and carriage procession through central London.

The 86-year-old British monarch will cut a lonely figure as the Diamond Jubilee draws to a close, however, after her husband of 64 years, Prince Philip, was taken to hospital on Monday with a bladder infection.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth joined an armada of 1,000 vessels and more than a million cheering spectators on Sunday to celebrate her 60th year on the throne with the most dazzling display of pageantry seen on London’s River Thames for 350 years.

Pealing bells greeted the start of the flotilla as the queen’s gilded royal barge sailed alongside a colorful and eclectic array of boats from leisure cruisers and yachts to rowing boats, a Hawaiian war canoe and Venetian gondolas.

LONDON (Reuters) – The Queen joined an armada of 1,000 vessels and more than a million cheering spectators on Sunday to celebrate her 60th year on the throne with the most dazzling display of pageantry seen on London’s River Thames for 350 years.

Pealing bells greeted the start of the flotilla as the queen’s gilded royal barge sailed alongside a colourful and eclectic array of boats from leisure cruisers and yachts to rowing boats, a Hawaiian war canoe and Venetian gondolas.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth hosts pop royalty at an evening concert outside her London residence Buckingham Palace on Monday, part of four days of nationwide celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee marking her 60th year on the throne.

Ten thousand ticket-holders will watch the performances live on a circular stage and much larger crowds are expected in surrounding parks to hear Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Jessie J entertain the 86-year-old monarch.

LONDON (Reuters) – A flotilla of 1,000 boats will sail London’s River Thames on Sunday in a spectacular highlight of four days of nationwide celebrations marking Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years on the throne.

Around one million people are expected to line the 7-mile route of the armada accompanying a royal barge carrying the 86-year-old monarch, her husband Prince Philip and leading members of the royal family.