Perfect jubilee weekend goes up in smoke

It was meant to be Britain's longest and biggest party weekend yet. Then England limped to a 1-1 draw with Sweden at the World Cup and Buckingham Palace caught alight. Even the warm weather is coming to an end.

Officials insisted last night that tonight's pop concert in the palace gardens would go ahead despite rehearsals being disrupted when smoke and flames were seen billowing from an unoccupied flat in the west terrace at 6.40pm yesterday. No member of the Royal Family was in the building but performers, including Phil Collins and Ozzy Osbourne were told to leave the grounds. The fire was contained within 90 minutes and rehearsals resumed shortly afterwards. Staff were allowed back inside the palace just before 10pm. An inquiry was trying to establish how it started though foul play is believed unlikely. No treasures are thought to have been damaged but the director of the Royal Collection, Sir Hugh Roberts, was inspecting paintings and other items for damage and two pictures were later removed as a precaution. The Prince of Wales, chairman of the Royal Collection, was "shocked but relieved that no one had come to any harm", his spokeswoman said. The fire revived memories of the blaze that caused £40m of damage to Windsor Castle in 1992. The Buckingham Palace fire followed a classical concert on Saturday night, the first in its grounds.