Dress rehearsal on London streets

As thousands of tourists arrive here for the Royal wedding on Friday, nearly 1,000 members of Britain's armed forces today conducted a dawn dress rehearsal on the streets of London in full ceremonial clothing.

Britain is reputed to hold such events better than any country, and the key to this is practice. Every aspect of the arrangements for Friday is being practiced to the last detail, including music, flowers, sound systems, drinks, food and security.BritainBefore dawn today, members of the army, navy and the air force, who will be on dutyon the day, wore full ceremonial uniform and left Wellington Barracks in Westminster to take part in the dress rehearsal. Soldiers lined the route to the Cenotaph, outside the entrance to Downing Street, from where the Royal Air Force personnel lined the road to Horse Guards Parade.


Army personnel lined Parliament Street and several companies of the Royal Navylined the conclusion of the route. The Westminster Abbey, the ancient venue of the wedding, closed its doors to the public on Tuesday so that preparations could get under way.