On Thursday, Queen Elizabeth II died at her estate at Balmoral Castle at the age of 96 following a 70-year reign over the United Kingdom. Her coffin was first taken from Edinburgh’s Palace of Holyroodhouse to St. Giles’s Cathedral in Edinburgh where she will rest for 24 hours before being flown to London.
The Queen’s funeral will be held on September 19 in Westminster Abbey after her body lies in state at Westminster Hall starting on Wednesday, according to an announcement from Buckingham Palace. King Charles III has declared September 19 a public holiday for the country.
In attending the solemn event, heads of states and their partners are being asked to arrive in the U.K. on commercial flights, and have been banned from using helicopters to move around London. Leaders and dignitaries are also being told that they will have to go sans private vehicles and instead take a bus to Westminster Abbey from a secret location in West London. A memo leaked to Politico asked foreign officials to arrive by commercial flight “where possible,” adding that London Heathrow will not be available for private flights to land.
“Can you imagine Joe Biden on the bus?” asked one stunned diplomat.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said he will be taking an Australian Air Force jet to the U.K. as opposed to flying commercial in order to attend the event. While Japanese Emperor Akihito, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier are reportedly planning to attend the funeral, Albanese is the only foreign delegate to have discussed travel plans.
United States President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are expected to be the only official U.S. delegates in attendance at the Queen’s funeral.
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Typically when a U.S. president visits a foreign country, they fly on Air Force One (a customized Boeing 747 plane) before taking a Marine One helicopter or an armored limousine named The Beast as their primary form of transportation.
However, the British-hosted international and historic event will be so full of guests that no more than a single head of state, or representative, and their spouse is permitted to attend, said the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
Roughly 500 foreign dignitaries are expected to attend the state funeral. However, the actual capacity of Westminster Abbey is about 2,200 people, and it is expected to be filled to that number on Monday. It is the first state funeral since former Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s in 1965.