White rose petals to mark 9/11

Three thousand white rose petals will be released from the dome of St Paul's tomorrow in a symbolic gesture to commemorate the victims of the 11 September terrorist attacks.

They will fall onto the altar of the cathedral moments before the precise anniversary of the impact on the World Trade Center's second tower at 2.03pm.

A congregation of 2,000 - including Prince Charles and Prince Harry, the Prime Minister and friends and relatives of the victims - will attend the service.

Charles and Harry are later expected to meet relatives of the 67 British dead.

The service will begin with a bidding by the canon-in-residence, Canon Philip Buckler.

"As soon as news broke of what had happened in the United States last September many people came into St Paul's to sit, to pray and to weep," he said.

"The service on the anniversary is a service of remembrance and commemoration, a time to think of those who died. But it is also a time to light a candle of hope for the future.

"We shall pray for the leaders of nations, their wisdom and courage, and pray that people might move from violence to understanding."

The white rose plays a significant part. The petals represent the 2,999 who died in New York, Washington and aboard the hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.

They also recall the roses laid on the Memorial for Innocent Victims at a service in Westminster Abbey last November.

At a ceremony to be held at Ground Zero tomorrow, people will be asked to bring a rose. The flowers will be gathered together to form a huge wreath.

The flower also features in a T.S. Eliot poem to be read by actress Patricia Hodge. She will read from Little Gidding, which ends: "All manner of things shall be well/When the tongues of flame are in-folded/Into the crowned knot of fire/And the fire and the rose are one."

Eliot was born in the United States but settled in London, where his literary reputation was made. The service will reflect strongly links between Britain and the United States. William Farish, the American ambassador, is to attend with members of the American community in Britain.

Tomorrow morning, at a remembrance ceremony to be held outside the US embassy in Grosvenor Square, Home Secretary David Blunkett will be presented with a Union flag retrieved from Ground Zero.

At St Paul's the first memorial candle will be lit by Alexandra Clarke, whose daughter Suria died in the atrocities.

Mrs Clarke is a member of the 11 September UK Families' Support Group Committee.

More than 600 relatives and close friends of victims are expected to attend. Among the congregation will be Chancellor Gordon Brown, Mayor Ken Livingstone and Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith. Three former prime ministers are also expected to be present: Sir Edward Heath, Baroness Thatcher and John Major.

The service will be broadcast live on BBC1 and Radio 4 and the public will be able to hear it on loudspeakers set up in the precincts of the cathedral.

The precentor, Canon Stephen Oliver, said there would be room for 10,000 people.

Canon Buckler added that the service would be Christian but members of other faiths had been invited.

"I quote Oscar Wilde: 'Where there is sorrow, there is holy ground'."