Around 500 world leaders and dignitaries have been invited to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on Monday (19.09.22).
The service at Westminster Abbey in London will be Britain’s biggest international event in decades, and high-profile figures from around the world will soon descend on the UK capital for the funeral.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and their Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, have all confirmed their attendance for the service.
US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron will also travel to the UK to attend the funeral.
Royals from across Europe – including King Felipe of Spain and King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium – and Japan’s Emperor Naruhito are expected to attend the funeral, too.
However, Xi Jinping – the President of China – is unlikely travel to the UK, having not left his homeland in the last two years amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former US President Donald Trump will also miss the service due to a limit on numbers, according to The Sun newspaper.
Elsewhere, former UK Prime Minsters Boris Johnson, Theresa May, David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Sir Tony Blair and Sir John Major have all been invited, as has current Prime Minster Liz Truss, who met the queen in Scotland shortly before her passing.
Truss previously played a glowing tribute to the monarch, describing her as “the rock on which modern Britain was built”.
The prime minister said: “Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known.
“She was the rock on which modern Britain was built.
“She came to the throne – at just 25 – in a country that was emerging from the shadow of war.
“She bequeaths a modern, dynamic nation that has grown and flourished under her reign.
“The United Kingdom is the great country it is today because of her.
“The Commonwealth is the family of nations it is today because of her.”