Queen Elizabeth II to make top official visit to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

Queen Elizabeth II is to pay her first visit to the Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in October, Buckingham Palace said Wednesday. Accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, the queen will travel at the invitation of the presidents of the three countries, royal officials said.

In November 2001, the queen's heir, Prince Charles, was slapped across the face with a bunch of carnations by a schoolgirl as he chatted to wellwishers in the Latvian capital, Riga, during a whistle-stop tour of the Baltic countries.

Sixteen-year-old Alina Lebedyeva was a supporter of the extremist Russian nationalist National Bolshevik movement.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, former Soviet republics, joined the European Union in 2004, reports the AP.

D.M.