Queen defends museum's move

A fiercely fought battle between north and south ended yesterday as the Queen celebrated the relocation of Britain's oldest museum, housed for centuries in the White Tower at the Tower of London, to its new, hi- tech, pounds 42.5m home in Leeds, writes Clare Garner.

Despite the scheme being denounced by critics as "little more than a theme park", the Queen endorsed the new Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds as an appropriate place to display the national collection of arms and armour.

Speaking at the official opening, she urged people not to forget the horrors of war, adding: "Those horrors have given rise to great deeds, great poetry, great music and great art. The weapons of war, which can be as beautiful as they are terrible, are often of the very finest design and craftsmanship."