All 2,000 seats at Westminster Abbey will be filled when the state funeral takes place on Monday 19 September from 11am. For the funeral, each country is limited to one representative and their spouse or partner as a plus one. The Queen, who celebrated 70 years of reign this year, died aged 96 on Thursday September 8 at Balmoral. The next day, Biden was asked by reporters if he planned to attend her funeral. He said, “I will go.” Among those also due to attend are Commonwealth prime ministers – including Canada’s Justin Trudeau, New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern and Australia’s Anthony Albanese. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italian President Sergio Mattarella, French President Emmanuel Macron, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will also reportedly attend. Spain’s King Felipe and Japan’s Emperor Naruhito are among the royals reportedly planning to fly to the UK for the funeral. Members of royal families in Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden are also expected to travel to London, but representatives have not been named or confirmed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not expected to attend amid the Russian invasion of his country. Due to the ongoing conflict and sanctions against Russia, Vladimir Putin – who sent his condolences to the royals – is highly unlikely to attend. The Queen’s coffin lies in state at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh after a procession through the city on Monday (September 12) led by her heir, King Charles III. Two days later, he will lie in state at Westminster Hall – the Palace of Westminster – for five nights until 6.30am. on the day of the funeral. During these days, the public will be able to pay their respects in person 24 hours a day. The royal family will be attended by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, as well as the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex. The Queen’s grandchildren, Prince William and Prince Harry, Peter Philips and Zara Tindall, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, and Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, will also attend the ceremony. Her cousins will likely be there, including the Duke of Kent, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Princess Alexandra and Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester. New UK Prime Minister Liz Truss is expected to attend, as is Labor leader Keir Starmer. In addition, the queen’s ladies-in-waiting and her closest staff will likely be there. The Queen’s funeral is expected to take place without Covid restrictions, unlike the Duke of Edinburgh’s on April 17, 2021. Prince Philip died on April 9, 2021 at the age of 99, and his funeral took place while England’s coronavirus restrictions were still in place. Due to virus measures, only 30 mourners were allowed to attend the ceremony, including the Queen and other members of the royal family. But the Duke’s memorial service, which took place almost a full year later in March 2022, saw 1,800 guests attend the event at Westminster Abbey. The guest list included members of royal families from Spain, the Netherlands, Monaco, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and Greece. These members will likely attend the Queen’s funeral to pay their respects to the world’s longest-serving monarch.
