Rice plays piano for the Queen

United States secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who came to London for a day-long farewell visit on Monday, played piano for Queen Elizabeth II at the Buckingham Palace.

Ms Rice, an accomplished pianist, performed a piece by Brahms and was accompanied by Louise Miliband, the violinist wife of British foreign secretary David Miliband, and three members of the London Symphony Orchestra. The private recital came after Ms Rice, who is a concert-level pianist, expressed a wish to play at the Buckingham Palace.

The queen obliged the outgoing American secretary of state by allowing her to use its music room and listened to part of the performance, the Daily Telegraph reported. Later, the queen presented Ms Rice, who will leave office in January, with an audio recording of the Brahms recital as a gift. Ms Rice, who arrived from Washington D.C., was in London to hold talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and foreign secretary David Miliband.

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