Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant joins Establishment after accepting Knighthood from Prince Charles

Rock ‘n’ roll royalty: Robert Plant receives his CBE from Charles

But old rockers never die – they just end up at Buckingham Palace.

Daily Mail | Jul 11, 2009

By Simon Cable

He was the bare – chested screamer who embodied the phrase sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.

Robert Plant was almost as renowned for his hellraising behaviour as for his performances with Led Zeppelin.

But old rockers never die – they just end up at Buckingham Palace.

Yesterday 60-year-old Plant became the latest in a long line of popular musicians to be honoured when he received his CBE from Prince Charles.

And rather than discuss his days of outrageous behaviour throwing TVs out of hotel windows watched by gaggles of admiring groupies, he chatted about global warming.

Plant’s award was for ’services to popular music’.

He arrived at the palace with his blond curls tied into a ponytail and wearing a plain blue suit, although he could not resist a number of heavy silver rings on his fingers.

Plant denied that the award meant he was now part of the establishment.

‘The diversity of people who have moved through here this morning prove there is no real establishment here,’ he said.

Part of the Establishment? Former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant displays his CBE which he received from Prince Charles

‘I owe everything to the musicians I work with. From the UK to Africa to Tennessee, it is their brilliance that I bounce off. Alone I’m nothing.’

Plant’s date at the palace came after Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Elton John and Cliff Richard all received knighthoods.

His Led Zeppelin bandmate, guitarist Jimmy Page, was awarded the OBE four years ago.

Plant has enjoyed a successful solo career since the group split in 1980 following the death of drummer John Bonham. His latest album, Raising Sand, recorded with country singer Alison Krauss, won five Grammy awards after it was released in 2007.

After the ceremony, he said he and Charles discussed the Dimbleby lecture the prince gave this week on global challenges and the environment.
Plant became notorious during the 1970s for his wild behaviour. During the band’s stays at the Hyatt House hotel on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, it was nicknamed the Riot House.

Led Zeppelin have sold more than 200million albums worldwide.

In December 2007 the band reunited to play a one- off show before nearly 20,000 fans at London’s 02 arena with Bonham’s son Jason playing the drums.

Georgia freemasons at loggerheads over admission of black man to lodge

Issue headed for Masonic trial and state courts after some lodges sought to revoke the charter of one in Atlanta for admitting 26-year-old African American

UTV | Jul 3, 2009

There is much about Freemasonry that remains shrouded in mystery to the outside world. But a group of members in the US state of Georgia appear to have clarified one thing – the supreme being in which all Masons are required to believe is not likely to be black.

Freemasonry lodges in Georgia are at loggerheads over the admission of a “non-white” member to an organisation that was founded on the principles of the Enlightenment but which is apparently still struggling to catch up with the latter part of the 20th century.

Now the issue is headed for a Masonic trial and the state courts after some lodges in Georgia sought to revoke the charter of one in Atlanta for admitting Victor Marshall, a 26-year-old African-American army reservist, last autumn.

The Atlanta lodge has fought back in the state courts by seeking to block the move on the grounds that is based on “racial animosity and hatred”.

The row blew up after Marshall attended a celebration in Savannah in February to mark the 275th anniversary of a lodge in the city. Although there are other Masons of colour in Georgia, including Asians and Hispanics, some members were disturbed to encounter a black man and laid a complaint that he did not belong.

“There were ill-informed brethren who were surprised that there was an African-American brother,” David Llewellyn, a Freemason and lawyer for the Atlanta lodge, told the New York Times, “and some of them were very upset”.

The stipulations to join the Masons are that members must be male, not slaves, of good character and have faith in a supreme being but no mention is made of racial origin.

The grand master, or leader of the Masons in Georgia, J Edward Jennings Jr, sent an email to members saying that Marshall was a legitimate member and should be treated as such. But that did not quell the row.

Under pressure, Jennings agreed to convene a Masons court to hear a complaint against the head of the Atlanta lodge, Michael Bjelajac, who is accused of violating “moral law”, the “ancient landmarks” and “immemorial usages” of Freemasonry by admitting Marshall.

But the complaint has met with ridicule in part because there are largely black Masonic lodges in the US as well as in African countries such as Ghana.

The objections to Marshall’s membership have been led by Douglas Ethridge and Starling Hicks, both worshipful masters of their respective lodges in Georgia who have both declined to be interviewed.

In court papers, Llewellyn said that when he called Etheridge to discuss the lawsuit, the Mason replied, “To hell with you, buddy”, and hung up.

Freemasonry in the US has a long history of segregation. A black stream of the organisation, known as Prince Hall Masons, was only recognised by mainstream Masons in 1990 and even then several states, including Georgia, refused to do so.

The Grand Master of the Prince Hall Masons in Georgia, Ramsey Davis, told the New York Times that he approached the mainstream leaders in the state to discuss recognition but was rebuffed.

“There’s deep-rooted racism in the leadership,” he said. “I’ve had many calls from white Masons to say they cannot understand why things are this way.”Marshall told the Associated Press that while he is disillusioned by the attitudes of some of his fellow Masons he has not lost faith in the organisation.

“I hope we’ll be victorious and that Freemasonry will come out in a more powerful light,” he said. “But of course sometimes the bad side can overwhelm the good side.”

Prince William dons ceremonial robes as he renews oath of allegiance to Order of the Garter

Prince William (L) with Prince Andrew (C) and Prince Charles (R) wearing ceremonial robes during the procession to St George’s Chapel in Windsor as part of the annual Order of the Garter service

Daily Mail | Jun 15, 2009

By Rebecca English

Prince William swapped his flying helmet for an extravagantly plumed hat at today’s Most Noble Order of the Garter Service.

The future king, who was created a knight of Britain’s oldest order of chivalry last year, took part in the annual procession alongside his father, grandmother and grandfather in the precincts of Windsor Castle.

Founded by Edward 111 in 1348, there is a maximum of 24 companion knights at any one time and their number is usually made up of senior politicians, members of the Royal Family and eminent public figures.
Knights of the order are required to display a banner of arms at the chapel, together with a helmet, crest and sword and an enamelled stallplate. They also carry the letters KG after their name for life.

Unusually, the honour is in the Queen’s personal gift without advice from Government ministers and William’s inclusion is the first of several offices he will hold as his royal duties increase.

Dressed in a blue velvet cloak and black hat complete with ostrich plume, the 26-year-old prince, who is currently training to become an RAF Search and Rescue helicopter pilot, towered over his father and other family members, which included the Duke of York, the Princess Royal and Earl of Wessex.

A spokesman said he had been given the day off from training at RAF Shawbury to attend the event but would be back in the cockpit the following day.

He smiled shyly and gave the occasional wave to cheering members of the public allowed inside to watch the knights walk from the castle, where they had enjoyed lunch with the Queen, to St George’s Chapel for the traditional service of thanksgiving.

One notable absence from the event was Baroness Thatcher, who remains in hospital after breaking her arm last week in a fall at her London home.

The 83-year-old former Prime Minister – who was made a member of the ancient order in April 1995 a few years after her time in office had ended – was always doubtful for the event after the accident.

Plans had been put in place, however, to have her pre-seated in St George’s Chapel for the service instead of walking through the grounds of the castle just in case.

However a spokesman said that Lady Thatcher will be kept in for several more days at London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital as a precaution.

Military religious order awards EU Commissioner with Maltese Cross

Bulgarian European Commissioner Meglena Kuneva (C), Chinese Vice Minister Wei Chuanzhong (L) and US acting Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Nancy Nord (R) hold a press conference on November 17, 2008 after an EU-China-US trilateral summit at EU headquarters in Brussels. Getty Images

novinite.com | June 2, 2009

European Commissioner Meglena Kuneva has been honoured with The Maltese Cross at an official ceremony in Sofia.

The ambassador of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to Sofia, Camillo Zuccoli personally presented the Cross to Kuneva.

The leader of the National Movement for Stability and Progress party, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, Ombudsman Ginyo Ganev and the recently re-elected Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, Ivan Iskrov, were present at the ceremony.

Kuneva received the award on behalf of the Grand Master of the order Fra’Matthew Festing for her helping with the development of European and Christian values and for her efforts as European Commissioner.

Kuneva is the No.1 candidate on the National Movement for Stability and Progress ticket for the coming European Parliamentary elections together

At present the organizations of the Order of Malta are spread over five continents and include over 100 000 volunteers and medical staff.

The Maltese cross or Amalfi cross is identified as the symbol of an order of Christian warriors known as the Knights Hospitaller or Knights of Malta. It was originally the symbol of Amalfi, a small Italian republic of the 11th century, but has come to be identified with the Mediterranean island of Malta. It is considered one of the National symbols of Malta.

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Company buys film rights to Estulin’s book on the Bilderberg Group

Halcyon buys rights to Estulin’s The True Story Of The Bilderberg Group

Screen Daily | May 25, 2009

By Chris Evans

Los Angeles-based The Halcyon Company has bought the film rights to writer Daniel Estulin’s best selling book, The True Story Of The Bilderberg Group, from publishing house TrineDay.

The book revealed the workings of the secretive Bilderberg Group, which has about 130 members all of whom are influential figures across politics and business. The book revealed that the group has spent time discussing major world issues and even predicted the current financial crisis, but chooses not to reveal its talks to the public.

Estulin, who is Russian but based in Madrid, spent 14 years researching the book, which attracted global media attention when it was published in 2007.

The Halcyon Company is a leading privately financed, media production and financing organisation run by co-CEOs Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek.

The company also owns the rights to the Terminator franchise, including the latest film Terminator Salvation, starring Christian Bale, plus it has first look rights to the works of science fiction writer Philip K Dick.

Knights Templar open a new priory in Ottawa with ceremony at Canadian Forces chapel

These modern-day Templars emphasize they are not Freemasons, nor are they a secret society

Canwest News Service | May 24, 2009

Ottawa’s Knights Templar join fight for Christianity

By Jennifer Green

OTTAWA — With spurs, sword and swirls of white and crimson, the Knights Templar began a new priory in Ottawa this weekend.

The Priory of Simon Peter is the third such group in Canada, and one of several hundred worldwide dedicated to upholding the chivalry of the centuries-old order. More specifically, they work to keep Christianity alive in the Holy Land.

The sunny May afternoon, the tuxedos and formal wear, even the bagpipe escort, gave the ceremony at the Canadian Forces Uplands chapel the air of a wedding rather than an ancient rite.

The six men and four women joining the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem took oaths to “fight from this day forward to be a defender of the kingdom of Christ.”

Each came forward, knelt and bowed slightly as a metre-long replica of an original Templar sword alighted on the shoulders and head.

“Arise, sir knight” said officiant Ronald Matthewman, Grand Prior of Canada. A traditional red cross on a crimson ribbon was placed around each postulant’s neck, then a white, floor-length cape draped across their shoulders. Another officiant held aloft a pair of silver spurs, tapped them twice, then bent down to place them (momentarily) on each postulant’s heels.

The dames and knights all touched the hilt of the sword with the three central fingers of their right hand “as a sign of fidelity to the order.”

Edmund Griffiths, a much decorated veteran of the Second World War, was elevated to lead the new group of about 30. The Priory of the Ascension of Our Lord in Windsor has 80 knights and dames, and Toronto’s Priory of St. James has about 50.

These modern-day Templars emphasize they are not Freemasons, nor are they a secret society, although candidates, usually highly educated community leaders, must be invited to join. These Templars are not Catholic, nor are they recognized by Rome. But they are Christian, and see their calling as religious, “seeking God in our lives.”

The modern Templars were revived in the 19th century in France; this organization was founded in the United States in the 1960s where the headquarters remain today. It makes no claims about descending from the original medieval knights. However, they do see themselves as upholders of the Templars’ medieval code of honour. Its website says: “The Order, in an age of democratic materialism and secular humanism, . . . (believes it has) an obligation to participate in the coalescing and preservation of a constructive force similar to that which created knighthood and chivalry during the Middle Ages.”

They state specifically that they are not political but much of their charitable works are centred on Christians in the Holy Land, such as Chaldean Catholics in Iraq.

Templar Tamir Andrea came from his home in Kingston to attend Saturday’s ceremony. Born in Nazareth, he was the first Templar to be inducted to the order in Jerusalem in seven centuries.

Griffiths, Ottawa’s prior, said his new group might consider something like help for aboriginal youth.

His granddaughter, Gillian Stacey Ainsworth, 26, was also among the new knights, or in her case, dames. Baptized an Anglican, she felt the weekly ritual of church on Sunday was simply not satisfying even though she is serious about her faith. Belonging to the Templars will allow her to do good works without the structure of weekly services. Ainsworth, who is single, said, “I take the vows as seriously as I would a marriage vow. I just can’t see that I would ever want to leave the group.”

David Moore, who commanded of the Canadian battle group in Bosnia, had been courted by many service groups, but he finally decided to join the Templars because of its solemn commitment to its principles. He also likes the fact that the Templars include women, many of whom have finer, stronger characters than many men, he says.

Lt. Com. Nicole Anne Lassaline took a long time to think about her decision to join. She wanted to be sure she would be able to give the extra time, energy and money that the commitment to the Templars would take. But her husband and daughter, 19, told her to go for it. Lassaline was particularly drawn to the Templars because they are one of the few service groups that accepts women and has earned recognition with the UN’s economic and social council. Lassaline is particularly hoping she can use her mediation skills.

The Knights Templar began in the 11th century as a unique order of high-born military monks commissioned to fight Holy Wars and protect pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem.

But by the 14th century, people became disenchanted with the order and accused them of corruption and growing soft. The pope disbanded the order and several of the leaders were burned at the stake for heresy.

Rich, powerful meet secretly in Greece

Resort protected by hundreds of police, navy commandos, coast guard speedboats and two F-16 fighter planes.

WorldNetDaily | May 17, 2009

WASHINGTON – The latest meeting of the secretive, half-century-old Bilderberg Group concluded yesterday outside of Athens with a few arrests, but little news.

Demonstrators from the political left and right shouted outside the Astir Palace hotel letting some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world know they weren’t entirely welcome.

A photographer for the London Guardian was briefly taken into custody while police insisted he delete pictures he took outside the hotel, which was closed to the public during the three-day meeting.

A police officer told the Associated Press the resort was being protected by hundreds of police, navy commandos, coast guard speedboats and two F-16 fighter planes. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity, in keeping with his department’s regulations.

Attendees this year reportedly included U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner; Larry Summers, the director of the U.S. National Economic Council; Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan; World Bank President Robert Zoellick; European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

Bilderberg attendance is by invitation only. And if you want an invitation, you’d better be extremely rich or extremely powerful.

Google joins Bilderberg cabal

New invitees reportedly include the nouveau riche Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt. Henry Kissinger, a lynchpin of continuity with other secretive internationalist groups including the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission, is a regular attendee, as is Wall Street Journal Editor Paul Gigot.

Former British cabinet minister, Lord Denis Healey, one of the founders of the group, explained the purpose of the group to Jon Ronson of the Guardian: “Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn’t go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing.”

Meanwhile, Daniel Estulin, author of “The True Story of the Bilderberg Group,” said before the confab the main topic of the agenda for this meeting was the world economy. He said his sources inside the group told him the movers and shakers would be discussing two options – “either a prolonged, agonizing depression that dooms the world to decades of stagnation, decline, and poverty … or an intense-but-shorter depression that paves the way for a new sustainable economic world order, with less sovereignty but more efficiency.”

As WND has reported, The Bilderberg Group meets at luxury hotels and resorts throughout the world. Last year’s conference was held at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Va. WND made an effort to gain entry, but was denied. Every four years the conference is held in the U.S. or Canada. The group has an office located in Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands.

The highly secretive meeting is off limits to press, but past reports from sources that have managed to penetrate the high-security meetings have stated that the meetings emphasize a globalist agenda and dismiss national sovereignty as regressive.

The BBC declared it to be one of the most influential organizations in the world.

“It’s officially described as a private gathering,” BBC reported, “but with a guest list including the heads of European and American corporations, political leaders and a few intellectuals, it’s one of the most influential organizations on the planet.”

Attendees of the Bilderberg conference are not allowed to speak a word of what is discussed in the meeting outside of the group. The group has no website and no minutes are kept of the meetings to ensure secrecy.

Last year, however, the Bilderberg Group made a press release available listing topics of discussion and providing a general overview of the gathering.

“Approximately 140 participants will attend, of whom about two-thirds come from Europe and the balance from North America,” the release stated. “About one-third is from government and politics, and two-thirds are from finance, industry, labor, education and communications. The meeting is private in order to encourage frank and open discussion.”

This year’s event was the 57th annual gathering of the Bilderberg Group, which began meeting in 1954. A scheduled meeting in 1976 was canceled, but if added to the tally, leads some to count this year’s gathering as the 58th.

Shadowy Bilderberg group meet in Greece — and here’s their address

London Times | May 14, 2009

Don’t tell anyone, don’t breathe a word, but the world’s most powerful men are meeting secretly again to save the planet from economic catastrophe. Oh, and their address, should you want to send them your opinions, is: c/o Nafsika Astir Palace Hotel, Apollonos Avenue 40, 16671 Vouliagmeni, Greece.

Bed space is a bit tight there for the next two days while the Bilderberg illuminati hold their private conclave in the five-star Greek hotel. Every year since 1954 a club of about 130 senior or up-and-coming politicians gather at the fireside of a secluded hotel with top bankers and a sprinkling of royalty to discuss burning issues, to trade confidences and just stay abreast of the I-know-something-you-don’t-know circuit. No lists of participants are disclosed, no press conferences are held; spill the beans and you’re out of the magic circle.

For those of us standing outside the locked gates all that is left is to hope that they will sleep well, avoid jet ski injury and solve our problems for us. For the Bilderbergers it is a little like that recent MI5 recruitment ad: “See all your best work go unnoticed!”

Each country delegates two people to the steering committee that is the intellectual hub of Bilderberg. In the past Kenneth Clarke, the Shadow Business Secretary, and Martin Taylor, formerly head of Barclays Bank, have had their hand on the British tiller.

This year the club is going to talk about depression. “According to the pre-meeting booklet sent out to attendees, Bilderberg is looking at two options,” says the Bilderberg-watcher Daniel Estulin — “either a prolonged, agonising depression that dooms the world to decades of stagnation, decline and poverty — or an intense but shorter depression that paves the way for a new sustainable economic world order, with less sovereignty but more efficiency.”

Since Bilderberg does not officially exist, it cannot deny anything and is therefore manna from heaven for the conspiracy theorist. Eurosceptics are convinced that the future development of the European Union was plotted here — EU commissioners have always been welcomed into the coven, with Peter “We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich” Mandelson a particular favourite. Margaret Thatcher, it is said, was a shy debutante at a Bilderberg meeting in 1975.

Jim Tucker, veteran stalker of the Bilderberg club meetings, claims that Mrs Thatcher was ordered “to dismantle British sovereignty, but she said, ‘no way’, so they had her sacked”. Left-wing conspiracy theorists believe that Bilderbergers form a capitalist nucleus, and there is a germ of truth in this. The meetings were started in the Netherlands, in the Hotel de Bilderberg, near Arnhem, by the Polish exile Joseph Retinger. He was worried about growing anti-Americanism and the advance of Communism in Western Europe. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands agreed to sponsor the idea, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Walter Bedell Smith, threw his weight behind it and so did the White House.

The Bilderberg consensus is that national problems are best solved by an internationally oriented elite, that a global network of decision-makers should have a common language and that the boundaries are fluid between the monied and the political classes.

And so there has been a natural bias towards inviting conservatives and market liberals. The only socialists invited are those who “understand money”.

Ed Balls has taken part and the most indiscreet Bilderberger of all time was Denis Healey, the former Labour Chancellor and fierce Atlanticist.

“To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair,” Lord Healey told the author Jon Ronson for his book Them: Adventures with Extremists. “Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn’t go on for ever fighting one another for nothing. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing.”

Another way of viewing the club is that of Metropolitan Seraphim, the bishop of Piraeus, who said that the Bilderbergers represented a “criminal cabal of world Zionism and its efforts to set up a cruel world dictatorship under the headship of Lucifer”. This line is quite common on the blogosphere, where the club’s secrecy is taken as evidence of evil intentions.

Whether Lucifer will be down there on the sun-loungers remains to be seen. But what we have been able to establish from a World Bank spokesman, Alexis O’Brien, is that the organisation’s president, Robert Zoellick, will be in Athens on unspecified business on May 14. And that US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s public schedule is mysteriously empty for the next two days. Jo Ackermann, head of Deutsche Bank, will be travelling “somewhere in Europe”. Jean-Claude Trichet, head of the European Central Bank, will not be around until the end of the week.

You get the drift. Something is going on. If only somebody would let us in on the secret.

Greek nationalists protest Bilderberg Club meeting

Associated Press | May 16, 2009

By DEMETRIS NELLAS – 10 hours ago

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Police heavily guarded a luxury resort in Greece on Saturday where a secretive annual rendezvous of top politicians and business leaders reportedly took place.

Several dozen Greek demonstrators gathered outside the Astir Palace hotel in the coastal town of Vouliagmeni to criticize the Bilderberg Group, an international group that was founded half a century ago in the Netherlands.

It has no widely known headquarters, meets secretly at luxury hotels and resorts throughout the world by invitation only, and generally makes no public announcements afterward.

The demonstrators, from Greece’s right-wing Popular Orthodox Rally party, shouted slogans and held a large banner saying “Bilderberg Unwelcome” outside the hotel, which is 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Athens on the Aegean Sea. One demonstrator was arrested when the group tried to break through a police cordon.

“We came here to protest this anti-Greek meeting,” Argyris Sideris, a regional party secretary, told the Associated Press. “We need to do something to protect our country.”

The popular hotel was closed to the public.

A police officer told The Associated Press the resort was being protected by hundreds of police, navy commandos, coast guard speedboats and two F-16 fighter planes. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity, in keeping with his department’s regulations.

Outside the hotel on Friday, Greek Communist Party members conducted a peaceful demonstration against the Bilderberg Group.

Greek newspapers said the secret meeting of the politicians and managers of world capitalism included Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis.

The papers said this year’s invitees also included U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner; Larry Summers, the director of the U.S. National Economic Council; the Obama administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke; World Bank President Robert Zoellick; European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

But those reports could not be independently confirmed.

The three-day meeting apparently ended Saturday.

Associated Press Writer Tom Stoukas contributed to this report.

The Elite Gather in Greece for a Not-So-Secret Meeting

Wall Street Journal | May 16, 2009

By AYSE FERLIEL

VOULIAGMENI, Greece — The Astir Palace hotel in this Greek coastal town wasn’t open for coffee Friday.

The luxury resort — 25 miles south of Athens on the Aegean Sea — normally welcomes guests to use its bars and restaurants, or its private beach. But when a reporter tried to go in for a coffee, a suited security guard barred the way.

“The hotel is closed for a meeting…. A very big meeting,” he said.

Greek media, apparently tipped off, were abuzz over the reasons behind the heightened security at the hotel: a gathering of the Bilderberg Group, a secretive annual rendezvous of top politicians and business leaders.

“At the Club of the Strong,” said a headline in Greek daily Eleftheros Typos. “Bilderberg: The first violins of capitalism,” wrote the Eleftherotypia paper.

Founded half a century ago, the group has no widely known headquarters. No accord is announced at the end of its meetings. And no one is supposed to divulge their presence.

Still, many do let it be known subtly, and past attendees are said to have included Henry Kissinger and Margaret Thatcher.

This time, one confirmed guest is Greek Prime Minster Kostas Karamanlis. “As you know, there are a lot of dignitaries in Athens, and this is a courtesy on behalf of the prime minister,” said Chris Valtadoros, his communications adviser.

Others scheduled to attend, according to those in the know, include European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and World Bank President Robert Zoellick. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg is expected to attend, as well as Domenico Siniscalco, vice chairman of Morgan Stanley Europe and a former Italian finance minister, and John Elkann, vice chairman of Italian car maker Fiat.

The managers of world capitalism aren’t always popular, which is one reason the Group of Seven leaders now meet in out-the-way resorts that are hard for protestors to reach. In Greece, a small nationalist political party, “Laos,” planned to demonstrate Saturday outside the hotel.

The public was kept away from the hotel doors. As the same security guard explained later: “The hotel is closed until Monday. … There’s a big wedding.”

—Sebastian Moffett and Bob Davis contributed to this article