The funeral, which is expected to take place around September 19 in the same church where the Queen was crowned in 1953, will attract presidents, prime ministers, kings and queens as well as huge crowds from home and abroad. US President Joe Biden, who described the Queen as “a constant presence and a source of comfort and pride for generations of Britons”, confirmed she would be among world leaders to pay their respects in person. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has also signaled his intention to participate. He told reporters on Friday that he knew the Queen and had met her twice at Buckingham Palace. “If we get the chance we would like to be present at this ceremony,” he said. Members of Europe’s royal families, from countries including Spain, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, will also travel to the abbey. At least one leader, however, will be conspicuous by his absence. Although relations between the UK and Russia have been severely damaged by the latter’s invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has offered his condolences to King Charles. “For many decades Elizabeth II rightfully enjoyed the love and respect of her subjects, as well as power on the world stage,” the Kremlin said in a statement. “Russians respected her for her wisdom,” but Putin’s presence at the funeral was “not taken into account,” he said. French President Emmanuel Macron made an unscheduled visit to the British embassy in Paris on Friday to sign a book of condolences for the Queen. Britain’s ambassador to France, Menna Rawlings, tweeted: “Many thanks to President Emmanuel Macron for visiting the British residence today to pay tribute to Her Majesty the Queen on behalf of the French people. His words and statements have touched us deeply and have gone straight to our hearts.” Bob Broadhurst, a former commander of the Metropolitan Police, said the funeral would almost certainly involve the biggest security operation seen in the UK. “Almost every nation on earth will want to send their king, queen, prime minister or president to the funeral,” he told PA Media. Map More than 8,000 guests descended on Westminster Abbey for the Queen’s coronation in June 1953, the first time a new monarch’s coronation was televised. Three million people lined the streets of London to catch a glimpse of the procession. Among the dignitaries attending the event were Sir Winston Churchill, the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohammad Ali Bogra, General George C Marshall – a supporter of the eponymous post-war European recovery plan – who led the US delegation, and colonel Anastasio Somoza, who would become dictator in his native Nicaragua.
