UK NEWS

FUNERAL WILL SEE MORE STARS THAT ELVIS FAREWELL

MOURNERS: Fans gather to lay flowers

Sunday June 28,2009

By Gareth Bebb

THE STAR’S funeral is likely to be the biggest the entertainment world has seen.

Tens of thousands are expected to line the streets of Los Angeles later this week as hundreds of millions more watch on TV. Mourners could even include President Barack Obama.

The occasion is forecast to be even bigger than Elvis Presley’s in 1977, when 75,000 fans lined the streets of Memphis, or Princess Diana’s 12 years ago, when 250,000 people turned out in London.

Plans were under way yesterday for a private service and public memorial for the music legend, whose body was moved to a private mortuary. A source close to the Jackson family revealed that the singer’s coffin was being kept under armed guard to deter ghoulish fans trying to discover its secret location.

The family funeral is likely to be held on Wednesday or Thursday, possibly at the enormous Forest Lawn cemetery in Los Angeles.

It will be followed by a public service that is expected to claim a global audience as big as that of Princess Diana.

Mourners are likely to include frail Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor, 77, who was one of Michael’s closest friends, and Sir Paul McCartney, who sang with him but fell out when Jackson bought the back catalogue of Beatles’ music from under his nose.

Others could include Liza Minnelli, Jackson’s former wife Lisa Marie Presley and Brooke Shields, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Madonna.

Jackson was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, who are forbidden from following funeral customs that are mentioned in the Bible, including rowdy wakes and alcoholic toasts.

Most of his close family still follow the faith, apart from brother Jermaine, who became a Muslim 20 years ago. When Jermaine spoke of his brother’s death last week, he added the words: “May Allah be with you, Michael.”

Jackson was briefly linked to the Nation of Islam group but never fully embraced the Muslim faith. A family friend said last night: “The Witness path is the one Michael’s mother and father, Joe and Katherine, are anxious to follow for his funeral.”

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