LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson's family arrived at a suburban Los Angeles cemetery as the start of a funeral service for the "King of Pop" was delayed by more than one hour.

A motorcade of some 31 vehicles swept into the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale just after 8:00 pm (0300 GMT) local time for the service, which is being attended by around 200 close friends and family. Six black Rolls Royce limousines headed the convoy of mourners followed by several luxury sports utility vehicles.

Television footage showed Jackson's three children -- Prince Michael 12, Paris, 11, and seven-year-old Prince Michael II, otherwise known as "Blanket", arriving for the outdoor service as a piano played in the background. The singer's parents Katherine and Joe Jackson were seated near the children in the front row as other members of the musical clan filed in.

Other guests who had arrived earlier included Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor and actor Macaulay Culkin.

Jackson, who died aged 50 on June 25, will be laid to rest in an ornate mausoleum at the cemetery, where Hollywood icons such as Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart, Spencer Tracy and Walt Disney are buried. LINK