Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey at 11am on Monday, September 19. The event will be one of the largest diplomatic occasions of the century and the guest list is expected to include politicians, world leaders, and European royals, with the expected influx to Britain so great that the Foreign Office is encouraging leaders to travel using commercial flights.
The venue can hold up to 2,000 people and the congregation will be full of members of the Royal Family, world leaders, politicians, public figures, European royals, and those who worked closely with the Queen.
READ MORE: Queen’s final journey – coffin procession from Scotland to Windsor
The Queen’s family will be present to mourn their loss, with her four children – King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward – in attendance alongside Camilla, the Queen Consort, Sir Timothy Laurence, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex.
The Queen’s grandchildren Princes William and Harry, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, Princesses Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn will also be in attendance.
In addition, spouses Catherine, the Princess of Wales and Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, and Jack Brooksbank are expected to be present.
The Queen’s cousins the Duke of Kent, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Princess Alexandra, and Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester are also likely to attend the service.
World leaders who have confirmed attendance through public statements or in multiple media reports include:
- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
- Austrian President, Alexander Van der Bellen
- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro
- Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
- European Council President Charles Michel
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
- Finland President Sauli Niinisto
- French President Emmanuel Macron
- German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier
- Hungarian President Katalin Novak
- Israeli Prime Minister Isaac Herzog
- Italian President Sergio Mattarella
- Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard
- New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
- Latvian President Egils Levits
- Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda
- Prime minister of Palestine Mohammad Shtayyeh
- Poland’s President Andrzej Duda
- South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol
- Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe
- Trinidad and Tobago President Paula-Mae Weekes
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
- US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Director of the “U.K. in the World initiative Kohn Kampfner said: “This will be a funeral like no other, or few other.”
He continued: “There have been great state funerals before — of American presidents, of Nelson Mandela and others. But quite simply the queen was the most famous person in the world, and as a result, I think there will be an attendance list that will be unprecedented.”
Official protocol dictates that invitations to the funeral will be offered to the head of state from each country, and their spouse or partner.
