The Coldstream Guards at Buckingham Palace play the Star Spangled Banner on September 12, 2001.
Michael Jackson: Thriller - Queen's Coldstream Guards - July 2009
Michael Jackson Thriller Queen's Coldstream Guards July 2009
Video sent by mrjynMichael Jackson - Thriller - HM The Queen - Coldstream Guards - - Rehearsal
Oldest regiment in the Regular Army in continuous active service, originating in Coldstream, Scotland in 1650 when "General George Monck" founded the regiment. It is one of two regiments of the Household Division that can trace its lineage to the New Model Army, the other being the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons).
The grouping of buttons on the tunic is a common way to distinguish between the regiments of Foot Guards. Coldstream buttons are arranged in pairs, and a star of the garter is marked on their brassware.
July 6, 2009
Coldstream Guards Play Star Spangled Banner - Thriller
Fans claim that Michael Jackson's ghost has been spotted at Neverland
Thriller ... shadow in TV footage
Was your Daddy a druggie? | Social services quiz Jackson kids | The Sun |News
Was your Daddy a druggie? | Social services quiz Jackson kids | The Sun |News
Michael Jackson with kids ... social workers fear for their future
MICHAEL Jackson's three kids faced harrowing questions from social services about life with their drug-addled dad within hours of his death, The Sun can reveal.
Probe ... kids were asked about dad Jacko
The Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services launched the probe as they discovered the chilling extent of the singer's addiction to prescription drugs.
Last night it was predicted to have a huge impact on the custody battle between Jackson's mother Katherine and his ex-wife Debbie Rowe - the mum of his two eldest - which kicks off today.
Custody ... Debbie Rowe
The insider on the case told The Sun: "The investigation was initially launched because drugs are so heavily involved.
"But in this particular case there are also red flags from all the family history and from Michael's prior involvement in molestation cases."
The probe was sparked by a tip-off from a doctor at the hospital where Jacko was taken.
The insider added: "The DCFS has 27 days to investigate the case and close it.
"They will check everyone involved in the children's lives for a criminal background.
"If they are satisfied the kids have been raised in a decent environment, then no further action will be taken.
"But if they are not satisfied, that's when they take it to court."
Gran ... Katherine
splash
Katherine was granted guardianship of her grandchildren after Jacko's death.
But Debbie, 50, wants custody of Prince Michael and Paris - despite controversially giving up any claims to them in return for a �5.2million payoff from Jacko.
Lawyers have told her she has an excellent chance.
LA attorney and family law expert Michael Dave said: "The DCFS investigate areas such as neglect and abuse.
"They are likely to give Katherine an evaluation, carried out by a neutral expert, to determine how suitable the potential guardian is to take custody of the children full-time."
Jackson probe Doctor liked to party | The Sun |News
Jackson probe Doctor liked to party | The Sun |News
Having fun ... Dr Murray with two of the girls promoting the energy drink
THE doctor at the centre of the probe into Michael Jackson's death posed bare-chested with scantily-clad girls while promoting an energy drink.
Dr Conrad Murray, 56, cavorted with the models on a jaunt to Trinidad and Tobago.
Companions on the trip told last night how he loved to "party hard", boozing with sozzled stunners into the early hours.
Pictures obtained by The Sun show him cuddling girls less than half his age.
Boozy night ... Dr Murray, far right, with some
of his drinking pals in TrinidadPromotions girl Maggie Goldstein, 34, who took a string of snaps of the doctor at play on the island,said yesterday: "He certainly knew how to party.
"He joined a promotional group on the island plugging a new high-energy drink called Pit Bull which I think he'd invested in.
"And he showed he had plenty of high-energy while he was there. There were about ten models and pro-motions girls who'd been recruited in Las Vegas.
"He had a ball with them. He was up into the early hours drinking and having fun and took a particular shine to one called Tracy who was at least 20 years younger than him.
"He loved posing bare-chested with the girls."
Murray has hired high-powered lawyers to refute suggestions that he was in any way to blame for the death of 50-year-old Jacko 11 days ago. He is believed to have been with the singer when he died.
Maggie added: "I recognised him straight away when pictures appeared of Michael Jackson's doctor.
"I had no idea he was supposed to be a top heart specialist - I just thought he was an old guy with an eye for the ladies."
Michael Jackson's love for his children was all magic, no trick, party magician says
Michael Jackson's love for his children was all magic, no trick, party magician says
Michael Jackson's love for his children was all magic, no trick, party magician says
Sunday, July 5th 2009, 2:53 AM
Harrison/Getty
Magician Rob Zabrecky performed at the last birthday party for Michael Jackson's youngest son, and observed 'a really happy family.'
Michael Jackson with his eldest son Prince, and Prince's sister Paris.
LOS ANGELES - Christmas was two months past, but there was still a pair of withering Christmas wreaths on the front gate and the grounds beyond were poorly tended.
The plants needed watering and this Holmby Hills mansion was itself falling into disrepair - not at all what the magician Rob Zabrecky expected from having seen photos of Michael Jackson's previous residences, the Neverland Ranch and the family compound in Encino, Calif.
"Disheartening," Zabrecky recalled. "We have this grand picture of how this person lives on this grand scale, always surrounding himself by things he loved."
As Zabrecky would later recount to L.A. Weekly and then to the Daily News, security guards took him to a side room. He waited with the three other acts hired for the show, a Double Dutch team, a juggler and a Hula-Hooper.
Zabrecky went second. He stepped into the backyard and noticed a toy pirate ship bobbing in the swimming pool, right out of Peter Pan and Neverland, yet battered, the sails broken.
"Lost at sea and in a storm, but still floating," he recalled.
Zabrecky did not see the crowd of kids or the balloons or the cake he anticipated when he was hired to perform at a birthday party for the youngest of Jackson's three children, Prince Michael Jackson 2nd, known as Blanket.
Zabrecky saw only the birthday boy, his siblings and their father on a row of patio chairs. The father was at the end, not surprising in black pajamas, wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses.
The children sat beside him in ascending order of age. What was immediately remarkable about them was how much they dressed and looked like children.
"Normal," Zabrecky later noted.
The biggest and best surprise regarding all four Jacksons was made only more so by the disrepair of the house and the grounds.
"They seemed like a really happy family and to see that was beautiful," Zabrecky said. "They just kept smiling."
Unlike some children he has encountered, the Jackson kids remained attentive and appreciative through the whole performance.
"These kids were focused. They were going to see a show," Zabrecky remembered. "Spoiled children won't give you their attention."
The show was interrupted when a helicopter clattered overhead. The children had each brought some Indian print fabric, and they covered themselves with accustomed ease to guard against paparazzi shots from above.
"It just seemed, 'This is the part [when] we have to cover ourselves because of a helicopter. ... This is what we do,'" Zabrecky said.
The helicopter flew on and the children uncovered. The show proceeded to the finale, a shrinking card trick that seemed to be their favorite.
The father joined in applauding and thanking the magician at the end.
"A great audience member," Zabrecky said of the star who had thrilled millions from the stage.
Then it was over, and Zabrecky walked back out through the disrepair that made what was manifestly intact only more remarkable. Here was true magic that involved no tricks.
"I left with a really warm sense that these were four peas in a pod," Zabrecky said.
Four months after that Feb. 21 party, tragedy struck. Grieving fans were still piling fresh flowers in front of the gates yesterday.
Someone had replaced the withering wreaths with fresh ones, complete with red ribbons and oversize pine cones, perhaps because Christmas was always such an important holiday for Jackson and his kids.
"Big time," a former head of security noted.
They will never have another Christmas together, nor a Fourth of July weekend such as so many happy families are now enjoying.
The stark fact that three kids have lost their father is what should be foremost in everybody's mind as we proceed to Tuesday and what is neither a show nor a spectacle, but a memorial.
For the sake of the three forever bereft of a fourth, let's hope there is portent in that toy pirate ship right out of Peter Pan and Neverland, battered and broken as if by a storm, but still afloat.