Decorated military veteran Ben Roberts-Smith is among the special guests who will represent Australia at the funeral. He received the Victoria Cross for bravery in combat as a corporal in the Australian SAS in Afghanistan in 2010. The Australian delegation will also include Chris Waller, a horse trainer who looked after many of the Queen’s horses. Australia offered to help delegations from South Pacific Commonwealth countries fly to the UK for the funeral, including Samoa, Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu. Mr. Trudeau has invited Leslie Arthur Palmer, a member of the Coast Guard who was awarded the Canadian Cross of Valor for rescuing two fishermen in 2004. Also attending will be Killing Eve actress Sandra Oh, who is part of his official delegation Justin Trudeau. He will join a procession of national honorees but is not expected to take a seat in Westminster Abbey. Other recipients of the Order of Canada – the country’s second-highest political honor – will also be in attendance, including musician Gregory Charles and Olympic gold-medal swimmer Mark Tewksbury.
Non-high profile figures
Her Majesty relied on several of her close staff, including her ladies-in-waiting and footmen, who will also likely be present to pay their respects to the late queen. One confirmed invite is Angela Kelly, the late Queen’s commissar and confidante. And taking their seats alongside the visiting dignitaries will be 183 members of the public, chosen for their service to the community. This may be a great state occasion, but it is also the people’s funeral, reflecting the late monarch’s connection to her subjects. All of these members of the public were recognized in the Queen’s Birthday Honors List earlier this year. The late Queen had specified that the guest list would include honorees from all corners of the United Kingdom, along with George Cross and Victoria Cross recipients whose bravery she held in high esteem. They include Barbara Crellin, from Rutland, who was awarded an MBE for setting up an emergency first responder program in her local community. Mrs Crellin, 71, also does voluntary work encouraging children to take part in sport. “When they told me why they were calling, you could have knocked me down with a feather,” Ms Crellin said of her call from the Cabinet last Saturday, inviting her to attend the funeral. Pranav Bhanot, 34, a solicitor and parish councilor who was honored for distributing food to residents of Chigwell, Essex during the lockdown, said the invitation was “the last thing I expected”. Robert Lodge, from Weeley Heath in Essex, is a veteran who was honored for his work with the charity Red Cypher, which supports past and present members of the 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery.
