World’s royals arrive in London ahead of the Queen’s funeral

Foreign royals have arrived in London to pay their respects to the Queen. 

King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, and King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, were among the first monarchs to view the monarch lying-in-state at Westminster Hall. 

Hundreds of emperors, kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers and other foreign dignitaries have descended on London ahead of Her Majesty’s state funeral at Westminster Abbey tomorrow. 

Tonight, heads of state including Emperor Naruhito of Japan arrived at Buckingham Palace for the so-called ‘reception of the century’, hosted by King Charles III and the Queen Consort.

Representatives of more than 20 Royal Families are expected at the funeral, including the reigning monarchs of the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. 

Among the most anticipated attendees is the Emperor of Japan, who rarely makes overseas visits. King Jigme & Queen Jetsun of Bhutan and the Sultan of Brunei will also attend.

On Sunday evening, King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain were spotted waving to well-wishers as they left the Spanish Embassy for Westminster Hall. 

Felipe, son of disgraced former King Juan Carlos, is a distant cousin of the Queen and referred to Her Majesty as ‘dear Aunt Lilibet’ in a personal tribute following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh. 

The king looked sombre in a black suit and tie as he and his stylish wife left the embassy for the Palace of Westminster. 

The couple crossed themselves and bowed their heads as they filed past Her Majesty’s coffins. Visiting dignitaries have access to a VIP entrance and platform that means they can avoid the queue snaking  through central London. 

At around the same time, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden also filed into the hall to pay their respects. 

King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla are preparing to host 1,000 VIPs including US President Joe Biden, New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern and Canadian premier Justin Trudeau, at Buckingham Palace this evening. 

The list of dignitaries includes President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed and Colombia’s First Lady Veronica Alcocer Gargia and Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva.

However, it also includes a string of controversial strongmen, including Bolsonaro, who was filmed today giving a thunderous speech from the windows of the Brazilian Embassy in London to a cheering crowd waving the national flag. 

His allies hope his four-day international trip – first in London, then at the UN Assembly General session in New York – will sway some voters in the upcoming elections, give him some gravitas after almost four years of rifts with other world leaders and provide material for TV ads.

And today the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia confirmed that Mohammed Bin Salman, known by the abbreviation MBS, had been invited to attend the funeral. 

He was set to hold talks with British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Sunday evening, despite international outrage after ordering Saudi agents to brutally murder and dismember Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in 2018.

And Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the authoritarian ruler who has jailed hundreds of journalists and busily dismantled Turkish democracy, is also coming to the funeral.

China has announced it will send its vice-president, Wang Qishan, but was barred by parliamentary leaders from the lying-in-state.

Due to strained ties, the UK opted to invite ambassadors, not heads of state, from Iran, Nicaragua and North Korea. Meanwhile, Russia and Belarus are among a small group of nations excluded altogether following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.