LONDON — It was the grandest of state funerals. It was a rare moment of shared national reflection. It was also a masterclass in diplomatic choreography. Two full hours before Queen Elizabeth II’s official funeral began at 11am on Monday, world leaders began to arrive. They came in waves — with a clear hierarchy on display. For most, arriving at the 750-year-old Westminster Abbey, just opposite the Palace of Westminster, involved stepping excitedly off a coach onto a sawdust-strewn London pavement. US President Joe Biden, apparently the only overseas visitor allowed to avoid the VIP ‘park and ride’ system in place for foreign dignitaries, arrived early in his armored limousine known as ‘The Beast’. He was the first sitting US president to ever attend the funeral of a British monarch. But the special privileges provided by the so-called special relationship ended there. Biden was forced to wait to take his place as a military procession, including recipients of the Victoria Cross – the highest and most prestigious award in Britain’s honors system for bravery – passed down the aisle. The US president and his wife were then seated back in the south section of the abbey, perched at the end of a row directly behind the Polish president, Andrzej Duda. Jill Biden took her seat next to Swiss President Ignacio Cassis. Higher up were the leaders of the Commonwealth realms – nations for which Queen Elizabeth had remained head of state. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Australia’s new leader Anthony Albanese were all given later arrival times and more prominent positions inside the abbey. They appeared to arrive together, with Ardern confirming over the weekend that she was more than happy to take the shared VIP transport provided. Despite concern from some foreign embassies about travel arrangements ahead of Monday’s funeral, other world leaders have also embraced the joint trip. Nairobi-based media company Kenyans.co.ke carried a photo of Kenyan President William Ruto posing in a coach heading to Buckingham Palace for the state reception on Sunday afternoon. Some leaders had arrived at the funeral park and promenade in Chelsea, west London, as early as 7.30am. – three and a half hours before the start of the funeral. The first vehicle to cross the police cordon was registered to the Sudanese government, according to London’s Evening Standard. Italian President Sergio Mattarella was among the last to arrive, in a chauffeured Maserati with the license plate ‘ITA 1’. French President Emmanuel Macron shared a coach with other European leaders, including European Council President Charles Michel. Macron caused a sensation in London on Sunday afternoon after he was seen walking the streets with his wife Brigitte. Irish President Michael D. Higgins, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol also appeared to arrive around the same time. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (front R) and his wife Sophie Gregoire (L) walk with other dignitaries as the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried into Westminster Abbey after the State Funeral | WPA Pool photo by Frank Augstein via Getty images The foreign royals, who had arrived in luxury minibuses, were given some of the best seats in the abbey, with King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, and members of the Spanish royal family, sitting next to the Queen’s immediate family near the altar. Europe’s longest-reigning monarch, Queen Margrethe of Denmark, sat directly across from King Charles. Britain’s former prime ministers — John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson — arrived separately in a fleet of black BMWs. They sat together, near the royal family in choir stalls. Cherie Blair and Gordon Brown – the famously unhappy Downing Street neighbors in the 2000s – chatted animatedly as they waited for the service to start. Former Tory leaders May and Johnson have discreetly parted ways with genteel Philip May. Further back sat the great and the good of the British political establishment, including the UK’s new Foreign Secretary James Cleverley, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, who had arrived wearing a top hat for his bus journey from Chelsea. Other cabinet members were joined by other senior ministers, including Climate Change Minister Graham Stuart and Security Minister Tom Tugendhat. Former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, now a senior executive at Facebook’s parent company Meta, arrived early, as did Lib Dem leader Ed Davey, who was spotted deep in conversation with Labor leader Keir Starmer and the SNP leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon sat quietly next to Labor Leader of the House of Lords Angela Smith as they waited for the service to begin. In a moment of unusual symbolism, Michelle O’Neill, deputy leader of the nationalist Sinn Féin party and Northern Ireland’s first-ministerial candidate, was in attendance, sitting alongside party leaders from all the other UK nations. DUP leader Geoffrey Donaldson and his predecessor Arlene Foster sat nearby. Keeping a low profile within the church were some current and former senior government officials. Christopher Hyde, the Queen’s former private secretary who became Boris Johnson’s ethics adviser before he resigned earlier this year, was among a host of former royal courtiers invited. Sue Gray, who wrote the ‘Partygate report’ that helped bring down Boris Johnson’s prime ministership, was sitting next to former Conservative Party leader Ian Duncan Smith. Tim Barrow, the UK’s new national security adviser, and England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty also sat near the back of the abbey. Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, who was formerly Prince William’s private secretary and now serves as the government’s most senior official, arrived with Prime Minister Liz Truss. Truss, accompanied by her husband Hugh O’Leary, delivered the second reading of the service, a biblical passage. “Let not your heart be troubled,” he said. “In my father’s house there are many mansions.” A host of other senior UK politicians also won coveted posts at the abbey, including Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Conservative caucus, London mayor Sadiq Khan, Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford and Labor grandee Harriet Harman. Deputy Labor leader Angela Rayner and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves were also at the church. Deputy Speakers of the British Parliament, Eleanor Laing, Rosie Winterton and Nigel Evans were also among the 2,000 guests at the funeral. Only Russia, Belarus and Syria were excluded from the international gathering — a veritable who’s who of the queen’s 70-year reign. This article has been updated to correct a working title.
