Michael Jackson service belatedly under way; Liz Taylor, other celebs kept waiting

Michael Jackson service belatedly under way

GLENDALE, Calif. — Michael Jackson’s outdoor funeral service is under way, delayed more than an hour by his family’s tardy arrival.

Their lateness kept 77-year-old Elizabeth Taylor and other celebrities waiting at Forest Lawn Glendale in the stubborn heat Thursday evening. The mourners were seated outside the marble mausoleum where Jackson’s coffin will be entombed.

Parents Joe and Katherine Jackson and the singer’s children, 12-year-old Prince Michael, 10-year-old Paris Michael and 7-year-old Prince Michael II, known as Blanket, were in the front rows for the service.

A police escort had ushered the family’s motorcade of 31 cars, including Rolls-Royces and Cadillacs, from Encino to Forest Lawn, with the hearse bearing Jackson’s body at the end.