British Queen opens new Reuters media building in London

Dec 13, 2005, 14:42 GMT

London - Queen Elizabeth II Tuesday officially opened the new global headquarters of Reuters media group in London by filing a news report.

The Queen, 79, pressed the file button to launch a story about her visit onto the agency's news wire, propelling it on to the screens in the lobby, outside the building and worldwide.

Paul Majendie, royal correspondent and author of the text, said: 'I just said to her that has to be the most nerve-wracking story I have ever had to file. I have never shared a byline with royalty before!'

Reuters chairman Niall Fitzgerald and chief executive Tom Glocer accompanied the Queen during her tour of the multi-storey building in Canary Wharf in London's former docklands.

The building is home to 2,500 staff who moved in from six Reuters buildings around London during the summer.

Reuters' move from 85 Fleet Street last June marked the end of an era in the history of British journalism.

The news organisation was one of the last to be based on the road famed for its newspaper industry.

Reuters moved to Fleet Street in 1939, just before the start of World War II.

The company was founded in London in 1851 when Paul Julius Reuter, a German-born immigrant, opened an office in the City of London which transmitted stock market quotations between London and Paris via the new Calais-Dover cable.