Train Halted to Check Object on Tracks : Elizabeth Fumes When Fahd Is Delayed

An unidentified object discovered on a rail bridge delayed the ceremonial start of the King of Saudi Arabia’s four-day state visit today, keeping the Queen of England waiting at the station for 20 minutes.

A train carrying King Fahd ibn Abdulaziz al Saud, his royal entourage and Prince Charles and Princess Diana pulled into London’s Victoria Station well behind schedule, to the visible annoyance of Queen Elizabeth II as she cooled her heels on the red-carpeted platform.

However, she smiled as the 250-pound king, clad in black robes with gold trim, stepped from the train. On the sidelines were various other royals plus Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and a handful of her top ministers.

Five minutes later, the rulers of Saudi Arabia and Britain were riding side by side in the gold-gilt 1902 Irish State Coach for the half-mile procession to Buckingham Palace, Fahd’s home as the queen’s guest until Friday.

“The train was stopped for 20 minutes while police checked an unidentified object on Grosvenor Bridge (a rail span over the Thames River) before it was allowed to go on to Victoria,” Buckingham Palace said in a brief statement.

The spokeswoman declined to say what the object was.

Relations between Britain and Saudi Arabia have been strained in recent years, and the Middle East’s richest and most powerful monarch was paying his first official visit to London since gaining the throne in 1982 to try to patch up some of the differences.