Michael Jackson's burial postponed

The late King of Pop was due to be interred on August 29 during a private ceremony at the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn cemetery in Los Angeles.

But a brief statement on Friday revealed the date had been put back to September 3.

The statement gave no reason for the change of date and said the ceremony would be limited to family and close friends.

Jackson died on June 25 at his rented property in Los Angeles. Investigators are working on the theory that the singer's heart stopped hours after he was given a heavy sedative to help him sleep.

Jackson will be buried at Forest Lawn's Glendale site, around eight miles north of downtown Los Angeles. It boasts a mausoleum with replicas of the work of Renaissance greats, including Michelangelo's David and Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper recreated in stained glass. Others stars believed to be buried at Glendale, which opened in 1906, include Hollywood actors Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn and Clark Gable.

Details of the burial place and the original date were released earlier this week, following speculation over his final resting place.

At first it was suggested he would be buried at the Neverland Ranch, his sprawling property in Santa Barbara. It was also rumoured at one stage that he would be buried in an unmarked grave so as to prevent his final resting place becoming a shrine for fans.

Jackson's burial had been delayed while experts conducted a number of post-mortem examinations and toxicology tests. But the late singer's brain was returned to the family earlier this month, leading the way for burial plans to be made.

Publication of the results of the autopsy are yet to be made public, with coroners in LA waiting until the end of a police investigation into Jackson's death. Post-mortem examination results are widely expected to show that Jackson was on heavy medication when he died at his rented Beverly Hills home.