Funeral guest list starts awkward diplomatic dance
The event’s protocol arrangements are read like tea leaves amid speculation over who will be in attendance.
LONDON — Ever get an invitation to an event and wonder who didn’t make the cut? Or how close you’ll be sitting to the host? Or who else will be at your table?
In recent days, hundreds of presidents, prime ministers, kings, queens, emirs and other world dignitaries who have been invited to Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral — set for Monday — have been pondering similar questions, reading protocol arrangements like they would tea leaves amid speculation over who has been asked to attend the most significant diplomatic event held by the United Kingdom in recent years.
Though the official guest list has not been published, the expectation is that Westminster Abbey, where the funeral will take place, will be filled to its capacity of 2,000 people.
Leaks from the U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of documents related to the funeral show the government exhorting visiting leaders to limit their numbers of delegates and to consider flying commercial, in a bid to reduce congestion at Heathrow.
But it’s another requirement that has raised diplomatic ire: that dignitaries ditch their private cars at a rallying point near the abbey and make their way en masse, by bus — an idea so controversial, it would seem, that the British prime minister’s official spokesman insisted last week that arrangements for leaders would “vary depending on individual circumstances” and that the information provided was “guidance.”
Word of exceptions granted to certain leaders — such as President Biden, who accepted the invitation early and will go to the abbey in his armored Cadillac stretch, known as “the Beast” — have reportedly left diplomats scrambling to get the same treatment for their bosses, or at least clarity on who will be seated next to them in the coach.
Meanwhile, the question of who is invited (or not) and who will be going (or not) has brought its own raft of issues.
So far, royal figures from Belgium, Denmark, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden have confirmed attendance. So too have all the heads of the Commonwealth countries, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indian President Droupadi Murmu and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said she will attend, as did Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska; due to join them are the presidents of Austria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy and Poland. On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted from his official account that he would also be present.
From farther afield, Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, in a break from protocol, will attend the funeral as a measure of the close ties their family enjoyed with the late monarch.
Some strange bedfellows are due to be in attendance: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Emirates head Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan.
Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol are also among the expected attendees.
Mexico will dispatch Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard. In a move hinting at their tepid relationships with the U.K., Iran, North Korea and Nicaragua have been invited to send representatives only at the ambassadorial level.
Only six countries are not on the guest list in any capacity: Russia, as a result of its invasion of Ukraine; Belarus, for facilitating that attack; Afghanistan, which is under Taliban rule; Myanmar, where the military took control in a coup last year; Syria, with which there have been no diplomatic relations because of the ongoing civil war; and Venezuela, which has no diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom.
One particularly large hiccup occurred Thursday, when a group of British members of Parliament heard of the invitation extended to Chinese President Xi Jinping and called for it to be rescinded, describing it in a letter to the head of Parliament as “wholly inappropriate.”
The animus centers on the U.K. government’s imposition of sanctions on Chinese officials it deemed responsible for genocide against the Uyghurs, China’s Muslim minority. Beijing a few days later imposed its own travel bans and asset freezes on British officials, including the lawmakers who wrote the letter. In retaliation, China’s ambassador to the U.K. was barred from entering Parliament.
In April, the U.K. Parliament voted to recognize as genocide Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs in the territory of Xinjiang.
Despite the kerfuffle, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan has confirmed that he will attend the funeral, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Still, some members of Parliament, in statements to the British press, said they had been given assurances by parliamentary leaders that a Chinese delegation would not be allowed to view the queen as she lies in state in Westminster Hall, where tens of thousands of people have queued for more than 24 hours since Thursday for a chance to pay their respects.
But in an apparent volteface, a parliamentary spokesperson Saturday told reporters that “the head of state (or their representatives) who have been invited to attend the state funeral in Westminster Abbey are also invited to attend the lyingin-state in Westminster Hall.”
Further controversy was kicked up around Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He has been determined in a declassified CIA report to have ordered the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose corpse was dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
The crown prince denied having anything to do with the murder; since then, he has worked to rehabilitate his image internationally. If he were to attend the funeral, it would be his first trip to London since 2018.
Saudi Arabia remains an important customer for British arms companies and employs thousands of expatriate workers.
During his decades as prince, King Charles III visited Saudi Arabia more than 10 times; last year, press reports revealed that Charles’ personal aide had promised to bestow a knighthood upon a Saudi businessman in exchange for donating to the then-prince’s charities. The aide later resigned.
The businessman, Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, was awarded a Commander of the British Empire medal by Charles in a private ceremony in 2016; the Metropolitan Police launched an investigation earlier this year. The king denied having any knowledge of the promises made to Mahfouz.
Though there is no official confirmation, CNN Arabic quoted a source close to the Saudi royal family who said the crown prince would touch down in the English capital Sunday. It remains unclear if he will attend the funeral or have an opportunity to give his condolences to the royal family privately. But the prospect of his arrival has infuriated rights groups, as well as Hatice Cengiz, who was Khashoggi’s fiancee. She condemned the invitation.
“The queen’s passing is a truly sad occasion. The crown prince should not be allowed to be part of this mourning and not be allowed to stain her memory and use this time mourning to seek legitimacy and normalization,” Cengiz said in an interview with the Guardian newspaper.
She called on U.K. authorities to arrest the crown prince when he lands in London but said she had little hope they would do so.
Pressure group Campaign Against Arms Trade, or CAAT, also excoriated the U.K. government for inviting Saudi Arabia and said it would hold protests in front of that country’s embassy and that of Bahrain; both are significant importers of British arms.
“Mohammad bin Salman is at the head of a murderous regime,” Katie Fallon, CAAT’s parliamentary coordinator, said in a statement. “These despots are using the Queen’s state funeral as an opportunity to whitewash their reputations.”