Donald Trump Reportedly Gets Bad News About His Invite To The Queen's Funeral
The formalities surrounding Queen Elizabeth II's funeral began on September 12, when the hearse carrying her coffin began its descent down south for the proceedings, per The Evening Standard. Scheduled to take place on September 19, the official funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey. According to Harper's Bazaar, before it begins, the queen will rest in Westminster Hall, where people can come and pay their respects to her before she is moved to St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for the committal service. The service will be televised, meaning the public can attend the service through their screens. But who is invited to be there in-person?
While the service can hold 2,000 people, only certain important figures are invited to attend. The entire royal family will be there, including William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, the newly appointed Princess of Wales, and Harry, the Duke of Sussex and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Other than the family, heads of state, prime ministers, presidents, and important international figures are also invited, per Harper's Bazaar. In the past, former president Donald Trump has expressed praise for the queen, leaving many to wonder if he is on the guest list.
Donald Trump will likely not be invited to the funeral
Donald Trump first met Queen Elizabeth II in 2019 while he was president and since then, he has expressed high approval of the queen. After her passing, he took to social media to honor her, saying, "Queen Elizabeth's historic and remarkable reign left a tremendous legacy of peace and prosperity for Great Britain," per People. But, regardless of his devotion to the queen, it is unlikely that Trump will receive an invite to her funeral.
According to the Daily Mail, invites are only extended to current heads of state. Regardless of the queen's relationship with former presidents and figureheads, the chapel is unable to hold more than the allotted invites. As such, President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, will be in attendance, confirming their plans with reporters, per The Evening Standard. Trump will have to watch the proceedings on television with the rest of the world.
The invite list for the queen's funeral is unusual
According to Metro, state funerals often give current presidents the option to create a delegation of officials to bring with them to the funeral proceedings and services. For example, when former South African President Nelson Mandela died, then-President Barack Obama brought his wife, Michelle Obama, along with former President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, per the Washington Post.
So when Queen Elizabeth II died, many wondered if former President Trump would make the guest list. It has been confirmed that he did not, in fact, receive an invite, per the Daily Mail. Trump may have even been expecting a plus-one invite from President Biden, as was done in the past, but obviously will not be receiving this, either.
According to Politico, the funeral is going to be so packed with people that Westminster Abbey is physically unable to hold more than one representative from each country and their spouse. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office made this clear in a release they sent out stating that the office "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."
Trump's team is not happy about the lack of an invite
After learning that Donald Trump would not be getting a personal invite for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral service, his team spoke out urging President Biden to extend an invite. When speaking with The Daily Beast, a senior Trump adviser said, "Biden should include Trump, the way Obama [was] included with Mandela." With the guidelines in place, President Biden would not be able to extend an invite to Trump even if he wanted to. Still, it seems as though Trump and his team are trying hard to get that coveted invite.
On Truth Social (via The Daily Beast), Trump posted that meeting the queen was "the most extraordinary honor of my life," alongside an array of different images of the two together during his presidential trip. With the rules in place, even his nice words aren't likely to change the precedent created by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
While Trump will not be in attendance, other world leaders will be, including New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Japan's Emperor Naruhito, and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, per Vanity Fair.