Lithuanian Ambassador Vincas Balickas, finally presented his credentials to Queen Elizabeth II Wednesday - 54 years after he arrived in London.
"It was worth waiting for," Balickas, 88, said after the Buckingham Palace ceremony.He became the first ambassador from the three newly independent Baltic states to be accredited formally to the Court of St. James, London's diplomatic corps, his mission said.
The ceremony ended more than half a century of diplomatic limbo for Balickas, who kept the spirit of an independent Lithuania alive among exiles in London after his country fell under Soviet rule in 1940.
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"Her majesty was exceedingly friendly and nice," noted Balickas, who still speaks halting English.