Presidents, prime ministers and monarchs from around the world will descend on London at the weekend to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth and attend a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by King Charles the day before her funeral.
US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron are among the most high-profile foreign guests confirmed to attend.
Heads of state and other senior foreign dignitaries will be asked to gather at the Royal Hospital, a nursing home for veteran soldiers in west London, and are expected to travel in groups to Westminster Abbey, a senior Buckingham Palace official said.
The funeral will be one of the biggest police events in British history as world leaders, kings and queens and huge crowds from home and abroad will descend on London for the event.
King Charles and Camilla, the Queen consort, will host a reception at Buckingham Palace on Sunday, an official state event before the funeral.
Foreign dignitaries coming to Britain will also be invited to visit the Queen in the Westminster Hall of Parliament before the funeral.
“Her Majesty’s death has left many people on many continents with a sense of deep loss,” said Earl Marshal Edward Fitzalan-Howard, Duke of Norfolk, England’s most senior peer in charge of state affairs.
“It is our aim and belief that the state funeral and the events of the next few days will unite people around the world.”
Immediately after the funeral on Monday, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley will host a reception for guests at nearby Church House as members of the royal family head to Windsor for the Queen’s funeral.
While the dress code at the funeral depends on Buckingham Palace, British diplomats advise foreign attendees to wear dark formal clothes, although national dress can also be worn. Military personnel will be able to wear formal clothes – with or without swords.
NOT INVITED
Britain has sent invitations to the leaders of almost all countries in the world, except for Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Russia, Belarus and Myanmar.
Syria and Venezuela are not invited because Britain does not currently have diplomatic relations with them. Afghanistan was not invited due to the current political situation, the source said.
Russia and Belarus are not invited to send their representatives because of the invasion of Ukraine.
In total, Foreign Office officials hand-wrote about 1,000 invitations to the funeral and reception with King Charles on Sunday.
The deadline for invitations to the funeral ends on Thursday, after which officials will finalize the seating arrangements.
A group of British lawmakers under Chinese sanctions criticized the decision to invite the Chinese government to the funeral.
They demanded that Chinese representatives be barred from the Palace of Westminster, where the Queen’s body is kept, after parliament voted last year to call the treatment of the predominantly Muslim Uyghur community in Xinjiang genocide.
Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan is expected to represent China at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on Monday, a British Foreign Office source said on Thursday.
The British government will not release a list of all the foreign leaders who will attend, partly for security reasons.
Transport arrangements are being finalized, as is the final seating plan, a government official said.
Members of the royal families of several European countries, including Belgium and the Netherlands, said they would come to pay their respects.
Politicians who will also attend include European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Indian President Draupadi Murmu.
