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After Her Majesty passed away on Thursday, September 8, plans were put in place to hold her funeral on September 19 at Westminster Abbey. World leaders such as Joe Biden and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have said they will attend.
However, foreign heads of state and their spouses heading to London for the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II have been asked to use commercial flights.
They have also been told they cannot use their own state cars and will instead be bussed en masse from a site in west London.
Documents from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) also say only the heads of state and their spouses or partners from each country have been invited to attend the funeral.
In the official protocol message regarding the funeral, the FCDO said Westminster Abbey will be so full it will be impossible for more than one senior representative per country and their other half to attend.
According to Politico, who saw the official documents, another memo sent to overseas embassies late on Saturday said the FCDO “regrets that, because of limited space at the state funeral service and associated events, no other members of the principal guest’s family, staff or entourage may be admitted”.
On the day of the funeral, the heads of state and their partners will arrive at Westminster Abbey in escorted coaches from a location in west London, where “because of tight security and road restrictions” they will be required to leave their own cars.
A second FCDO document detailing the logistical arrangements for those travelling from overseas said: “Multiple and comprehensive layers of security will be in place across London and at all the official venues used for the state funeral and associated events”.
A foreign ambassador in London told the outlet: “Can you imagine Joe Biden on the bus?”
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US President Mr Biden has already announced he will attend Her Majesty’s funeral, and described the monarch as “a steadying presence and a source of comfort and pride for generations of Britons”.
Mr Erdoğan, Turkey’s President, also told reporters on Friday he intends to be at the funeral, saying: “If we find the opportunity we would like to be present at this ceremony.”
Also set to attend are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
A former Cabinet minister who was in Government at the time of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral in 2013 told Politico: “It would not be surprising if all the crowned heads of state from Europe come, as well as heads of state and heads of government in other countries.
“It will be a huge diplomatic event. Her Majesty’s last contribution to the wellbeing of our country is to provide an excuse for a huge diplomatic get-together.”
Bob Broadhurst, a former Metropolitan police commander, said Her Majesty’s funeral would almost certainly entail the biggest security operation ever seen in the UK.
He said: “Practically every nation on earth is going to want to send their king, queen, prime minister or president for the funeral.”
John Kampfner, director of the ‘UK in the World’ initiative at the Chatham House think tank, also said: “This will be a funeral like no other, or few others.
“There have been great state funerals before — of American presidents, of Nelson Mandela and others. But quite simply the Queen was the most famous person in the world, and as a result I think there will be an attendance list that will be unprecedented.”
The Queen will lie in state for four days at Westminster Hall before her funeral, from September 14 to September 18.
Currently Her Majesty’s coffin is in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and will proceed to St Giles’ Cathedral with members of the Royal Family on Monday.
On Tuesday, Princess Anne will accompany her mother’s body as it is flown back to London, where the Queen’s coffin will be taken from Edinburgh Airport to Buckingham Palace via RAF Northolt.
On Wednesday afternoon, the coffin will be taken to Westminster Hall, arriving at 3pm, and four clear days of lying in state will happen from Thursday.
The state funeral will be followed by a procession from London to Windsor Castle, and afterwards the Queen will be laid to rest at King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor.
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