120 World Leaders For Olympic Games Opening Ceremony

Thousands of VIPs including some 120 national leaders will jet into London for Friday’s Olympics opening ceremony, with guests ranging from Angelina Jolie and Michelle Obama to the king of Swaziland, Mswati III.

The expected record number of heads of state and governments will watch the Olympics cauldron lit by a mystery personality in a Ł27 million ($42 million, 35 million euros) extravaganza of music, dancing and pyrotechnics, amid a flurry of A-list parties in the British capital.

Germany’s Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, are among the leaders set to attend what will be a suitably British and eccentric show, featuring dancing surgeons from the National Health Service.

Britain’s 86-year-old monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, will officially open the Games at the ceremony, whose exact contents are a secret  but which is also said to include a scene in which magical fictional nanny, Mary Poppins, vanquishes Harry Potter villain Lord Voldemort.

First Lady, Michelle Obama, will head the US delegation, and while there are no plans for her husband, President Barack Obama, to attend, his electoral rival, Mitt Romney, will be in the crowd wooing foreign leaders ahead of November’s election.

Britain’s Prince William and his wife, Catherine, credited with breathing new life into the country’s monarchy, will appear along with a flock of European royals including Prince Albert of Monaco.

Russia’s delegation will be led by Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, while strongman, President Vladimir Putin, has indicated he may fly in later purely to watch the judo, in which he, is himself, holds a black belt.

British football legend, David Beckham, is expected to appear at the ceremony despite not being selected for Team GB — his non-selection drew public anger.

The contingent of heads of state and government, which the Foreign Office says will peak at about 120 for the ceremony, outstrips about 80 who attended the Beijing ceremony in 2008 and about half that number in Athens four years earlier.

They will also be invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace beforehand.

But even glitzier will be the series of celebrity parties taking place around the fringes of the Games, above all a charity gala at the Victoria and Albert Museum Wednesday in aid of Sports for Peace, honouring boxing great Muhammad Ali.

Hollywood mega-couple, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, are helping host the soiree, leading it to be dubbed “Brangelina’s party” by British newspapers agog with the influx of stars.

“Royalty meets Hollywood as star-studded Games party season starts,” gushed the London Evening Standard on Monday.

According to the Times newspaper, that party will also feature film actress, Catherine Zeta Jones, racing driver, Lewis Hamilton and Ukrainian boxing duo, the Klitschko brothers. But the food was to be down-to-earth, including the British classic fish and chips.

The watch brand, Omega, will host a series of “secret” parties during the Games, with invitees including Australian actress,                                                                                         Nicole Kidman, a face of the brand, and US swimming multiple gold medal-winners Michael Phelps.

Several super-yachts, favoured by tycoons, are meanwhile moored off the Canary Wharf business district.