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Mohammed bin Salman travels to London (photo from December 2021)
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BANDAR AL-JALOUD / AFP
The guest list for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral on Monday in London is long.
Both in terms of length and names: around 2,000 people are invited, including US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Japanese Emperor Naruhito.
In the UK, however, there is also opposition to the guest list.
And not just because of the right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who likes it.
A name that has long been ostracized in the West is also to pay tribute to the Queen in London: Mohammed bin Salman.
At least the Saudi embassy announced that the Saudi crown prince would travel to London.
It is unclear whether he will also take part in the official part.
The problem: Saudi Arabia's de facto rulers are still accused of murdering Jamal Kashoggi.
In 2018, the journalist was brutally killed in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.
US intelligence services see bin Salman as directly responsible.
Kashoggi fiancee wants bin Salman arrested
Hatic Cengiz, who was engaged to Kashoggi, described the announced trip to London as a "disgrace" to the monarch's memory and an attempt by bin Salman to achieve "legitimacy and normalization".
Cengiz told the Guardian that she wanted the crown prince arrested for murder when he landed in London.
But you don't believe in it.
Since the Kashoggi case, things had gone quiet around bin Salman.
This summer, however, he made a kind of comeback: in July, bin Salman traveled to Europe for the first time since the murder, visiting Greece and France, where he also met President Emmanuel Macron.
US President Biden had previously paid him a visit.
The background to the visits is probably the exploding energy prices as a result of the Ukraine war.
Biden, for example, wanted to achieve an increase in Saudi Arabian production volumes with his visit, which he celebrated with the ruler with a fist bump.
And thus lower the price of oil.
However, that failed.
Despite the criticized human rights situation, Saudi Arabia is not only important to the West in terms of energy policy.
The country is seen as an ally of the USA, for example, against Iran's drive to expand in the Persian Gulf.
Relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia had deepened, particularly under Donald Trump.
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