Sir Elton John is host as Standard chief celebrates his citizenship
A party was held last night to mark the British citizenship of Evening Standard chairman Evgeny Lebedev.
Hosted by Sir Elton John and David Furnish, 130 guests attended the dinner at the Royal Courts of Justice. Mayor Boris Johnson gave a speech and jazz star Jamie Cullum sang at the event.
Words of congratulations from former president Mikhail Gorbachev and Prime Minister David Cameron were read out during the evening, which was attended by Evgeny's father Alexander, who co-owns Russian pro-democracy news-paper Novaya Gazeta.
Guests from the art world included Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota, former head of the Royal Academy Norman Rosenthal, art dealer Jay Jopling with girlfriend Rachel Barrett, and sculptor Antony Gormley.
The world of entertainment was represented by David Walliams, who attended with wife Lara Stone, as well as Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran, actress Rosamund Pike, Harry Potter author J K Rowling, and artist Sam Taylor-Wood and her partner, actor Aaron Johnson.
Mr Lebedev told guests how delighted he was to hold dual citizenship. He has lived in London since he was eight, and he attended school in the capital.
