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Stellar cast of world leaders, royals meet for Queen’s funeral, but the uninvited catch the eye
- Foreign dignitaries accounted for a quarter of the 2,000 attendees at the funeral, reflecting a queen who met numerous leaders across history
- War in Ukraine, US-China tensions and the tailend of a pandemic backlit the funeral, with list of absentees revealing divisions in global politics
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As a nation mourned its monarch, global leaders congregated in London on Monday to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth, in the largest gathering of royals, heads of state and diplomats in recent memory.
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Her funeral provided the chance to bid farewell to a global figure who was ever present among diplomatic circles over her seven decade reign.
With around a quarter of the 2,000 attendees being foreign dignitaries, it was a show of unity without precedent in the modern era, reflecting a queen who met countless leaders at key moments in history, including 13 US presidents, Russia’s Mikhail Gorbachev and Xi Jinping of China.
But it was also backlit by overlapping crises with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, surging inflation, the tailend of the pandemic and sharp tensions between the US and China stirring grave uncertainty.
The list of absentees from Monday’s funeral revealed the deep divisions roiling global geopolitics.
Russia and Belarus were not invited following the invasion of Ukraine, a snub which Moscow received with outrage – last week the foreign ministry called the decision “deeply immoral”, and “blasphemous” to the memory of the queen.
Ukraine, however, was there with the presence of First Lady Olena Zelenska.
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