The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19 2022 will be one of the biggest diplomatic moments in the world, with the guest list including some of the world’s most powerful political leaders, heads of royal families and influential public figures.
The Queen passed away on September 8. She was 96. With a reign of 70 years, she was the longest-reigning monarch in British history and the second-longest reigning monarch in the world after King Louis XIV of France.
The Queen’s state funeral will take place at London’s Westminster Abbey. Reports suggest that over 500 dignitaries will mark their presence at the state funeral, which is the first in Britain since Winston Churchill’s in 1965.
According to reports, invitations to world leaders requesting their attendance have been sent but an official guest list is yet to be published. The state funeral is set to start at 11 am GMT (7 pm SGT).
A look at the guest list for Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral
The British royal family
The entire British royal family will certainly be at Westminster Abbey for the funeral. King Charles III and Camilla, the queen consort, will be accompanied by Prince William, Prince of Wales, and Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales.
Prince George and Princess Charlotte, two of the three children of William and Kate, will be in attendance. It is not clear whether their third child, Prince Louis, will be attending.
Also present will be Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex. Their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, might not accompany them.
On 14 September, Prince Harry joined his brother, as they walked together in the grand funeral procession of the Queen that started at Buckingham Palace and ended at Westminster Hall.
Princess Anne, Princess Royal and her husband Sir Timothy Laurence will be present. Princess Anne’s children, Peter Phillipps and Zara Tindall, will be attending their grandmother’s funeral. Zara’s husband, Mike, will also be joining the family.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York will be joining the family. Their children, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, will also be present with their respective husbands, Jack Brooksbank and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, will also be present with their children Lady Louise Windsor and Viscount Severn.
The Queen’s cousins, Princess Alexandra, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, will be at the funeral.
Royals of other countries
Among the European royals confirmed to attend the funeral are King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco, King Constantine and Queen Anne Marie of Greece, and King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, along with the king’s mother, former Dutch queen Princess Beatrix.
Also present will be Queen Margrethe of Denmark. Now the longest-reigning European monarch following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Margrethe scaled down the celebrations of her 50th year of accession to the Danish throne after Queen Elizabeth II’s death and led a moment of silence for the departed royal.
The Danish queen will be accompanied by her heir, Crown Prince Frederik, and her daughter-in-law, Crown Princess Mary.
Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. It is only the second time in Japanese history that a reigning Emperor will be attending a funeral of a foreign head of state or royal family member. Emperor Naruhito’s father, former Emperor Akihito, was the first to do so when he attended the funeral of King Baudouin of Belgium in 1993.
The Malaysian government confirmed on September 14 that Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah and Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, the King and Queen of Malaysia, respectively, will also attend the state funeral.
While King Abdullah II of Jordan will be in attendance, it is unclear if Saudi royals will be present at the funeral.
Reports suggest that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud could represent his father, King Salman of Saudi Arabia, at the funeral.
Other heads of government and state
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will be in attendance. Reports suggest that former US presidents have not been formally invited due to limits on delegation size. There are speculations that some former US presidents, including Barack Obama, might receive private invitations.
UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford will be in attendance. Jamaican Governor-General Sir Patrick Allen will also be attending.
President Emmanuel Macron of France, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany and President Sergio Mattarella of Italy will also be present.
Other Presidents who are attending include Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Isaac Herzog of Israel, Andrzej Duda of Poland, Alexander Van der Bellen of Austria, Sauli Niinisto of Finland, Gitanas Nauseda of Lithuania, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and Ranil Wickremesinghe of Sri Lanka.
On September 14, the Government of India confirmed that President Droupadi Murmu will be in London from 17 to 19 September to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral.
In the pews with others will be Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
The Government of Bangladesh has confirmed that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be attending the state funeral.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also be among the dignitaries.
It is not clear if Chinese President Xi Jinping will be able to attend the state funeral. Xi will be in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan throughout the ongoing week, marking his first foreign tours since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to CGTN, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on 14 September that Beijing is “actively considering” sending a high-level delegation to Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral.
Meanwhile, The Times reported that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine will not be able to attend because of the ongoing war with Russia.
Those not invited
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has not been invited. Relations between London and Moscow have almost collapsed since the invasion of Ukraine earlier in 2022. Being a close ally of Putin, President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus has also not been invited.
Following a coup in the country in 2021, Myanmar has been given a snub. Also not invited are Syria, Venezuela and Afghanistan.
PA Media news agency reports that North Korea and Nicaragua have been invited at an ambassadorial level.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi have not been invited. However, Mirror reports that the country might also be represented at the ambassadorial level.
(Main and Featured images: The Royal Family/@RoyalFamily/Twitter)
This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Kuala Lumpur
