Trump, 76, and the four other living former presidents have the option of attending the thanksgiving service at Washington National Cathedral on Wednesday. Former heads of state are not invited to the official funeral in London on Monday. An invitation seen by The Telegraph describes the event as a “Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II”. Invitations to high-ranking officials will be sent in the name of Dame Karen Pierce, the UK’s ambassador to Washington, and her husband Sir Charles Roxburgh, a former Treasury official, on Thursday. The Telegraph understands that the Queen’s Color Squadron will perform a guard of honour. The service and music will also be carefully selected to represent all four parts of the Union. As a Protestant Episcopal Church, the National Cathedral is part of the Anglican Communion, which includes the Church of England. The service will be presided over by the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. Also speaking on Wednesday will be the Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, who delivered a moving sermon at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018. Dame Karen and the Most Reverend Randolph Marshall Hollerith, Dean of Washington National Cathedral, will deliver remarks. “Her Majesty dedicated 70 years of service to her God and her people,” said the Revd Marshall Hollerith. “We will remember the unwavering sense of duty, devotion and faith she embodied, and the many visits she made to the Cathedral during her lifetime.”
Meeting the Queen was ‘the greatest honor of my life’
Mr Trump expressed his great admiration for the late Queen while in power and enjoyed the rare privilege of an official state visit to the UK in 2019. Trump said meeting the Queen was “the most extraordinary honor of my life” in a tribute after her death. “The whole civilization is mourning. The death of Queen Elizabeth II, the enlightened monarch who reigned in the United Kingdom for 70 years, is a loss felt by billions around the world,” he said. The tribute sparked days of speculation over whether Trump and his wife Melania would be among the 2,000 mourners at Westminster Abbey on Monday. The White House later confirmed that Mr Trump would not be included in the US delegation traveling to London, which is limited to current heads of state. Joe Biden, the US president, was among the first world leaders to confirm he would attend the funeral, one of the biggest and most elaborate events on British soil since the Second World War.
Liz Truss will visit the US for the first time
Liz Truss will make her first visit to the US as Prime Minister next week to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York. It is understood the Prime Minister will not be able to attend the cathedral service in Washington. Washington National Cathedral has hosted state funerals for four former US presidents – Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush – as well as a series of memorials. Invitations to Trump, Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and their spouses were sent Thursday. The function, organized by the British Embassy in Washington, is expected to include a number of dignitaries, including senior members of the US Congress and all foreign ambassadors. The cathedral can accommodate around 1,700 people and it is expected that the event will meet capacity. It is unclear whether Mr Trump will attend. The Republican leader was spotted at one of his golf properties in the US capital this week.
