Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was to arrive in Estonia on Thursday on the final leg of her tour of the three Baltic countries. A welcome ceremony for the queen and her husband, Prince Philip, was planned at the Presidential Palace, hosted by Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Estonia's newly inaugurated president. Prince Philip was scheduled to travel to Moigu, just outside Tallinn, to attend the opening a new plant belonging to Estonian electronics manufacturer Interconnect Product Assembly AS. Later Thursday, the royal couple was to attend a concert and a reception by the British ambassador, Nigel Haywood, at the Art Museum of Estonia, located near the president's residence in Tallinn's historical Kadriorg park. The day's program was to be closed by a formal dinner and a speech by the queen at the medieval House of Black Heads in Tallinn's picturesque Old Town. Before leaving neighboring Latvia for Estonia, the queen was to visit Riga's Occupation Museum Thursday morning. The museum chronicles five decades of Soviet occupation, which ended in 1991. In conjunction with the queen's visit, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett will also be in Tallinn for talks with Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, the Foreign Ministry said. The British monarch will depart Tallinn Friday afternoon, the Associated Press reported.
