Queen to dine with prime ministers

Tony Blair is to host a dinner at Downing Street in honour of the Queen as she celebrates her 50th anniversary on the throne. The event - part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations - comes ahead of her address to MPs and peers on Tuesday.

Notable guests:

• Sir Edward Heath
• Lord Callaghan and Lady Jay
• Dennis and Lady Thatcher
• John and Norma Major
• The Queen and Prince Philip
• Lady Soames
• Countess of Avon
• Earl of Stockton
• Lady Wilson

As well as the Queen and Prince Phillip, all her five living prime ministers and their accompanying spouses will attend the dinner. They include Mr Blair's predecessor at Number 10, John Major, along with Margaret Thatcher, James Callaghan and Edward Heath. Relatives of past premiers have also been invited including Sir Winston Churchill's daughter, Lady Soames and the Countess of Avon who is Anthony Eden's daughter. Descendants of Harold Macmillan and Sir Alec Douglas-Home as well as Mary Wilson, wife of the late Labour prime minister, Harold Wilson will also be there. Speaking ahead of the event, Sir Edward, who was prime minister between 1970 and 1974, said he expected it would be an informal occasion.

The former Conservative premier told how he had valued the Queen's advice and experience during regular meetings in the 1970s. "In the morning my secretary and her secretary would meet and they each had a list of things they wanted to discuss and they were put in order and that is what we started with," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "Then she would ask the questions that she'd got down and I would ask mine - we would discuss them and that was fairly formal. "Then after that we abandoned any notes or any list and talked to each other about the things that were in our minds, which very often we'd never told our own officials we were going to raise. "That gave us complete freedom to talk on current problems wherever they were and whatever was going on." He added: "[The meetings were] an opportunity of taking advantage of her experience and advice and this of course is tremendous. "It really is quite remarkable that the sovereign should have been there on the throne for 50 years continuously and accumulated so much experience..." Sir Edward added that he had been looking forward to the occasion enormously. Although his premiership began 32 years ago, he is not the oldest living former prime minister. Lord Callagan, who was Labour prime minister between 1976 and 1979, celebrated his 90th birthday in March. He is being accompanied to the dinner by daughter Margaret Jay. Downing Street would not release precise details of the menu although a spokesman said the meal would be cooked by seafood guru and restauranteur Rick Stein. A seating plan will not be released.