Hundreds of foreign leaders and members of the royal family are expected in London on Monday for Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral, one of the largest diplomatic gatherings in decades.
Westminster Abbey can only accommodate around 2,000 people, so only heads of state and one or two guests per country have reportedly been invited to Britain's first state funeral since 1965.
The crowned heads
Many crowned heads from Europe and elsewhere have confirmed their presence at the funeral of the sovereign, who reigned for more than 70 years before her death on September 8.
Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will come on their first overseas trip since assuming the throne in 2019, a break from Japanese tradition that rarely sees the emperor attend a funeral.
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King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, Queen Maxima and Princess Beatrix, King Philippe of the Belgians, King Harald V of Norway and Prince Albert II of Monaco will all be present.
Queen Margrethe of Denmark, a distant cousin of Queen Elizabeth and now Europe's only reigning queen, will be present.
The King of Spain Felipe VI will be there, but also his father Juan Carlos I, who abdicated in 2014 and now lives in exile in the United Arab Emirates.
world leaders
US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden top the list of diplomatic guests.
Unlike other leaders who were asked to come to the Abbey by bus, Joe Biden would have received permission to use his armored presidential limousine, "
The Beast
".
French President Emmanuel Macron will also be present to show his country's "
unbreakable
" link with the United Kingdom and pay tribute to an "
eternal queen
".
Read alsoDeath of Elizabeth II: the emotion of a nation
Turkish Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will also come.
Despite the tensions following Brexit, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council Charles Michel will also make the trip.
Among the other expected leaders, we should see in London on Monday the presidents Sergio Mattarella (Italy), Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Germany), Isaac Herzog (Israel) or even Yoon Suk-yeol (South Korea).
In a symbolic gesture to pay tribute to the Queen, whose state visit in 2011 helped ease decades of tension, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin will also attend.
On the other hand, if Chinese President Xi Jinping was invited, he did not give an answer while assuring that a “
high-level presence
” would be ensured.
The Commonwealth
Many leaders will come from countries of which Elizabeth II was the monarch, despite the republican inclinations that shake some of these kingdoms, while representatives of the 56 Commonwealth countries will make the trip.
Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau of Canada, Anthony Albanese of Australia and Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand are all expected to come.
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Other countries in the Commonwealth, which mainly includes former British colonies, will include South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.
Not invited
Russia and Belarus are among a small group of nations that will be excluded from the Queen's funeral after Moscow invades Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had already declared that he would not be present, but Russia still deemed it "
blasphemous
" and "
immoral
" not to be formally invited.
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Burma, a former British colony ruled by the military, but also Afghanistan and North Korea have also been excluded.
In addition, Venezuela and Syria were not invited since the United Kingdom does not maintain diplomatic relations with these States.
