The Foreign Office is organising the arrival of as many as 500 heads of state and dignitaries for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in what officials say is the equivalent of telescoping hundreds of state visits into the space of two days.
Invitations have been sent out to every country with which the UK has diplomatic relations, except Russia, Belarus and Myanmar.
The Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, has not been invited, but Iran has been asked to send its ambassador. Iran currently does not have an ambassador, but may send its acting ambassador, the chargé d’affairs, Seyed Hosseini.
No formal condolence has been sent to the British government by the Iranians, and in some hardline Iranian press people have even been warned not to express sympathy.
Among those expected to attend, with their partners if they wish, are the US president, Joe Biden, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the Japanese emperor, Naruhito, and New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern. The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has been given the chance to attend, but is only this week making his first trip outside China, to a conference in Uzbekistan where he will meet Vladimir Putin, since the pandemic began.
Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, will also attend, although in the past year there has been a low-key row about whether the EU would be granted full diplomatic status in the post-Brexit UK.
Although elaborate contingency plans have been in place for the funeral for more than a decade, many of the practicalities of organising it could not be prepared until a date was known.
The Foreign Office has transferred an extra 300 staff on to the task, with more due to be added in the coming days. The mixture of security, diplomacy, protocol and logistics is regarded as probably the most extensive piece of short-term planning to face the diplomatic service since the state funeral afforded Winston Churchill in 1965.
The Foreign Office, in consultation with the police, has relented on the number of dignitaries that will be allowed to come to Westminster Abbey in their own transport, permitting more private cars.
Spain is likely to be represented by King Felipe VI, who has blood ties to the British royal family dating back to the 19th century. Members of other European royal families including from Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden will also travel.
The timing of the funeral – 11am – will give the world leaders that are scheduled to address the UN general assembly in New York in person the following day just about enough time to fly across the Atlantic. Macron and Biden are due to speak. In some cases the head of state attending the funeral is not the politician due to speak at the UN.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, had been expecting 90 heads of state to attend an education summit in New York on Monday, but that number is rapidly falling.
The new Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is expected to depart for London on Thursday evening and Australia has offered to transport some Commonwealth leaders in the Pacific to ensure they can attend. There have been discussions with countries such as Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
It is unclear whether Solomon Islands prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, will take up the Australian invitation. Relations between the two have been tense since the draft of a security deal between China and the Pacific country was leaked in March.
There is a small literature on what is known as funeral diplomacy – and the opportunistic chances funerals provide for senior politicians to discuss affairs of state. The former Labour prime minister Harold Wilson is alleged to have coined the term “working funeral” and at Churchill’s managed to arrange a 50-minute meeting with the French president, Charles de Gaulle to break the ice that had formed over relations under his predecessor.
But it is generally expected that the death of the Queen will not be seen as a chance for formal bilateral meetings, however tempting given the crisis in Ukraine.
One of the most important politicians to follow may be Macron, who has impressed former Conservative cabinet members with his emotional and warm statement on her death. “Whatever his politics, he is a class act,” said one.
France is hoping to opening a new chapter in Anglo-French relations after the departure of Boris Johnson, seen by many in France as trivial and incurably unreliable.
Macron has proposed a European Political Community to which non-members of the EU would be invited at least twice a year to discuss issues such as defence and foreign relations. A key decision for the new prime minister, Liz Truss, will be whether to accept an invitation to attend a European Council in October.
The new French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, spoke to the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, on Monday, praising the constructive discussion, and a chance to discuss Iran and Ukraine.
