There will be no Joe Biden, but more than 100 other heads of state have accepted invitations to the king’s coronation, with the 2,300-strong guest list also including UK parliamentarians, celebrities and a large number of community and charity representatives.
The US president, who is unable to attend, will be represented by the first lady, Jill Biden,and she will be joined by the French president, Emmanuel Macron. The presidents of Germany and Italy, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Sergio Mattarella, whose roles are largely ceremonial, will attend rather than their heads of government Olaf Scholz and Giorgia Meloni.
Though no official guest list has been released, the prime ministers of the current 15 Commonwealth realms are all expected to have been invited, including the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, New Zealand’s PM, Chris Hipkins, and the Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau.
Pakistan’s PM, Shehbaz Sharif, is understood to have accepted. The Chinese vice-president, Han Zheng, who has presided over a civil liberties crackdown in Hong Kong, is also on the king’s guest list, in a move branded “outrageous” by Conservative MPs.
Iran has not been invited, in a shift from the late queen’s funeral last year, it has been reported. Iran joins a list that includes Russia, Belarus, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Syria and Venezuela whose leaders have been left off the guest list, according to the PA news agency. Invitations to North Korea and Nicaragua are said to be similar to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, with heads of mission offered the chance to attend.
Members of foreign royalty include King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Dragon King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and his wife, Queen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck. Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco have confirmed their attendance. Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko of Japan will represent Emperor Naruhito at the ceremony.
UK politicians in attendance include the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who will give a reading, and former prime ministers are expected to have been invited. Senior cabinet ministers and the leader of the opposition, Sir Keir Starmer, are also thought to be on the guest list. But far fewer MPs and peers than attended the 1953 coronation have been invited due to lack of space, and those attending will have been selected by ballot.
The first minister of Scotland, Humza Yousaf, and Sinn Féin’s leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, have accepted invitations.
The king has been holding a series of face-to-face audiences at Buckingham Palace this week, suggesting other guests could include Amazonian Indigenous leaders Uyunkar Domingo Peas and Atossa Soltani, the Ashanti king from Ghana, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and Canadian Indigenous leaders Chief Roseanne Archibald, Natan Obed and Cassidy Caron.
Celebrity guests include the TV presenters Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, the American singer-songwriter Lionel Richie, the British Vogue editor-in-chief, Edward Enninful, and The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades.
More than 850 community and charity representatives from across the UK have been invited, including more than 450 British Empire Medal recipients in recognition of their contributions.
A full quota of senior royals will include the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, with Prince George chosen as one of the king’s four pages of honour. The Duke of Sussex, who is not expected to play any formal role in the service, will be attending, though without the Duchess of Sussex, who will remain in California. The Duke of York will also attend, but is not expected to have a formal role. His ex-wife, the Duchess of York, has not received an invitation.
The queen consort’s (soon to be queen’s) family will also be present; her son Tom Parker Bowles, daughter Laura Lopes, and even her ex-husband, Andrew Parker Bowles. Their grandsons Gus and Louis Lopes, Freddy Parker Bowles and her great-nephew Arthur Elliot will be acting as her pages of honour.
• This article was amended on 4 May 2023 to clarify that the presidents of Germany and Italy have largely ceremonial roles, not wholly ceremonial as an earlier version implied.
