Among those set to attend are US President Joe Biden and First Lady Gilles Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian President Draupadi Murmu. Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese, President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro, President of Italy Sergio Mattarella and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of Germany, will also be in the stands. The service, which will conclude 10 days of national mourning, will be held at Westminster Abbey in the heart of the capital and will be attended by around 2,000 people. The presence of heads of state, representatives of overseas governments, foreign royal families and governors-general will raise huge organizational and security issues. It is the most complicated logistical situation you could imagine A senior cabinet minister said: “Whitehall has been planning the funeral for decades, but it is the most logistically complex circumstance you could imagine.” As well as VIP dignitaries, attendees will include recipients of British gallantry awards such as the Victoria Cross and George Cross, along with senior MPs and peers, bishops and representatives of charities supported by the late monarch. Almost 200 people recognized at this year’s Queen’s Birthday have also been invited, including community volunteers and those who made an outstanding contribution during the Covid-19 pandemic, along with other emergency service workers. Although no formal bilateral meetings will take place due to the period of national mourning, Truss is expected to host several meetings. Japan’s Emperor Naruhito, right, pays his respects at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as she lies in state inside Westminster Hall © John Sibley/AFP via Getty Images Truss was expected to meet with Biden on Sunday, but the pair will have their first official bilateral meeting at the UN General Assembly in New York later this week. The UK prime minister met Albanese and Ardern on Saturday at Chequers, her country home in Buckinghamshire. On Sunday, he was due to meet Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Downing Street. Royal figures in attendance will also include Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, Belgium’s King Philippe and Queen Mathilde and Norway’s King Harald V and Queen Sonja . Foreign dignitaries will gather ahead of the event at the Royal Chelsea Hospital before traveling in shared vehicles to the abbey. Only a handful of world leaders – including those from Russia, Belarus and Myanmar – were not invited, reflecting the war in Ukraine and the lack of full diplomatic relations with the UK. No representatives from Syria, Venezuela or Afghanistan have been invited to attend, while North Korea and Nicaragua have only been invited at ambassadorial level. A police search team enters Westminster Abbey ahead of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on Monday © Phil Noble/Reuters Conservative MPs and peers raised concerns that Xi Jinping, China’s president, had been invited, although it is likely that Vice President Wang Qishan will represent the country. Beijing last year sanctioned nine people, including five Tory MPs and four organizations in Britain — in retaliation for the UK’s decision to sanction some Chinese officials. Former Tory leader Ian Duncan Smith, one of the five MPs to be sanctioned, said it was “surprising” that China had been invited given its “huge record of human rights abuses”. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be represented by the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, while Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, will attend. Due to the Russian invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not expected, but First Lady Olena Zelenska is set to attend. Catherine, Princess of Wales meets Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska at Buckingham Palace © Kirsty O’Connor/WPA/Getty Images The state funeral, which will start at 11am and last around an hour, will be conducted by the Dean of Westminster, Dr David Hoyle. At the beginning of the service, the choir of Westminster Abbey, together with the choir of the Royal Chapel of St. James’s Palace, will sing five Sentences — lines of scripture set to music. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, will give a sermon and Truss and Baroness Patricia Scotland, secretary general of the Commonwealth, will read lessons from Corinthians and the Gospel of St John. The lessons will be followed in turn by a special commission of the psalm “Like a deer” and the hymn “The Lord is my shepherd.” Other hymns to be played will include “The Day Thou Hast Given, O Lord, Ends” and “Love Aunt, All Loves Surpass.” After the service, the Queen’s coffin will be taken to Wellington Arch, Hyde Park Corner, en route to Windsor Castle, where a ceremony will take place at 4pm. It will be led by the Rector of Windsor, David Conner. The rector of Sandringham, the minister of Crathie Kirk near Balmoral and the chaplain of the chapel royal at Windsor – which represents some of the Queen’s favorite residences – will say prayers. A private funeral will be held later on Monday evening at the King George VI Memorial at Windsor Castle and the late monarch will be buried alongside her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
