LONDON — Japan’s emperor, who lives in luxury at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, will travel on a crowded shuttle bus to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on Monday.
But while Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako have been happy with community transportation, some other world leaders have not, especially since President Biden and a select few will arrive in their own armored vehicles.
“Everyone would rather have their own car,” said an exhausted British government official, one of hundreds working on the Queen’s funeral.
Betting on the most famous woman in the world has become a gigantic diplomatic challenge. Members of the 23 royal families will sit in the front rows of Westminster Abbey, opposite President Biden and about 90 other presidents and prime ministers, as is protocol.
Leaders from nearly 200 countries and territories flying into London were encouraged to take commercial flights because of the complexity of scheduling landing slots at the same time at airports still understaffed due to the coronavirus pandemic. But a lot of private jets come anyway.
Intense negotiations are taking place behind the scenes in an area called “the Hangar” at the UK Foreign Office. Hundreds of people are working on the requests of the nearly 500 foreign dignitaries who will attend the funeral.
There have already been diplomatic disputes. Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, blocked a Chinese delegation from attending this week’s public viewing of the Queen’s coffin in Westminster Hall.
Hoyle cited China’s decision to refuse to allow some British politicians to travel to China because they have criticized Beijing’s treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman responded forcefully: “As the host, the British side should maintain diplomatic etiquette and hospitality.”
Vice President Wang Qishan leads the Chinese delegation. President Xi Jinping was invited but declined.
Almost every country or territory with diplomatic relations with Great Britain was invited. Some did not make the list, including Russia, Belarus and Myanmar, because of the war in Ukraine and human rights abuses. Some nations, such as Iran, North Korea and Nicaragua, were invited to send an ambassador, but not their head of state.
The invitation includes a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by King Charles III on Sunday night and another reception immediately after the funeral.
Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is attending, but her husband is expected to be absent.
British officials said they were unsure whether Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was attending. US intelligence officials have said that MBS, as he is known, was behind the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a contributing writer for the Washington Post.
Khashoggi’s girlfriend said his presence would be a “stain” on the Queen’s memory.
Queen Elizabeth II had personally met many of those who will attend her funeral. He traveled to more than 100 countries. In many cases he met several generations of leaders.
Many guests will be in their 80s and even 90s, and how to seat them quickly and comfortably has also been extensively planned.
For example, King Felipe VI of Spain, 54, and Queen Letizia, 50, will come. So are the king’s parents, the former King Juan Carlos I, 84, and his wife, l former Queen Sofia, 83, who also met Isabel.
VIP guests have made a steady stream of special requests. Some have asked to bring their doctor, others a personal assistant. Some have asked for a private room where they can rest.
“You can’t issue a blanket ‘no,’ but nine times out of ten it’s a ‘no,'” the official said. “But we want everyone to leave with a good impression.”
An exception: the performers. China’s Vice President Wang, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro and a handful of others asked for an interpreter because they don’t speak English. Fewer than ten of these requests were granted, but only for the receptions, not the funeral itself, where space will be very limited.
Having so many world leaders in one place provides rare opportunities for them to speak without aides and notes, said Capricia Marshall, former U.S. chief of protocol in the Obama administration.
“They have no one else to talk to but each other, and they take advantage of that,” Marshall said.
Countries typically send lower-ranking officials to funerals and other events, Marshall said.
Karen Pierce, Britain’s ambassador to the United States, said she believes Biden is the first US president to attend a British state funeral. The last state funeral was in 1965 for Winston Churchill and Lyndon B. Johnson had been hospitalized by that time.
The former British ambassador to the United States, Peter Westmacott, pointed out that there is always the possibility that things will go wrong between leaders who have strong personal or national differences. But, he said, the Queen’s death has led to “an outburst of civility”.
He cited Macron, the French president who has many differences with Britain over Brexit, Britain’s departure from Europe and personal disagreements with new Prime Minister Liz Truss and her predecessor, Boris Johnson.
“He’s quite mad about Liz Truss and Boris Johnson,” Westmacott said. “But look at the nice things he’s been saying about the Queen and the relationship between Great Britain and France.”
In the end, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to come after being told it could not be his own presidential car, an exception to the rules granted only to Biden, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and a couple month.
“This call was made for security reasons. It has nothing to do with a special relationship or politics,” the British official said.
When the British rejected Erdogan’s request, he decided to send his foreign minister instead.
For many Brits, the idea of pampered princesses and world leaders boarding a bus is amusing.
“All world leaders are traveling,” said British comedian Jimmy Carr, when asked by the Washington Post about his thoughts. “And you know who’s really in charge? During these 45 minutes, the world leader is the bus driver. ‘My bus, my rules! sit on the back North Korea, get along with South Korea. His! China, what are you doing in the back? His!'”
Carr agreed with protocol experts that the bus schedule presented opportunities.
“I think more could be done on this bus in 40 minutes than has been done at the UN in the last 40 years. Maybe Israel and Palestine sit next to each other on the bus and they say, ‘You know what, we have a lot in common.’ What did you bring for lunch, Palestine? Hummus? Well, I’ve got some pitas. Let’s do it.'”
Michael Birnbaum in Washington and Lily Kuo in Taipei contributed to this report.