THE wife of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will join world leaders for the Queen’s funeral.
First Lady Olena Zelenska is among 500 heads of state and dignitaries invited to the service and a VIP reception hosted by King Charles the day before.
Global leaders are set to arrive in London this weekend and expected to pay their own respects to Queen Elizabeth with visits to Westminster Hall where she is lying in state.
While despot Vladimir Putin has not been invited, Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelensky will attend along with dozens of world leaders and Royal Families from across the world.
A source said: “Olena Zelenska’s presence is yet another sign of the global support for Ukraine while Russia is isolated.
“Britain is one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies. Her presence at the funeral is a sign of that friendship and mutual respect.”
Read More On The Queen's Death
The source added she would fly back to Ukraine as soon as the ceremony finished on Monday.
Dozens of members of foreign royal families — including Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain and King Philip and Queen Mathilde of Belgium — will be among the 2,000 mourners at Westminster Abbey.
More than 30 world leaders are also set to attend including US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill, France’s Emmanuel Macron, China Vice President Wang Qishan, Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Turkish President Recep Erdogan, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.
NHS bigwigs, including chief exec Amanda Pritchard, will be among the mourners.
Most read in News
They will join nearly 200 key workers and volunteers recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, including Ella Marks, 88, who attended George VI’s coronation in 1937.
The evening before the funeral, King Charles III and his Queen Consort Camilla will host foreign VIPs at a Buckingham Palace reception.
It is set to be the largest gathering of world leaders in modern history and the first state occasion at the palace — which is undergoing a £360million refit — since then President Donald Trump’s visit more than three years ago.
Prince Andrew, Prince Harry, 38 yesterday, and his wife Meghan have not been invited.
It comes as…
- Kate and Wills reveal how kids George, Charlotte and Louis are coping after their great-grandmother’s tragic death
- Sophie Wessex shares an emotional hug with a well-wisher at a memorial for Her Majesty
- Mourning Brits queue for hours to visit the late monarch’s coffin lying in state at Westminster Hall
- Prince Harry faces a lonely 38th birthday without children Archie and Lilibet
- Details of the Queen’s state funeral are revealed – from where William and Harry will stand to how Meghan will travel
The dress code for the event, in the palace’s Picture Gallery and State Rooms, is lounge suits as the Royal Family is in mourning.
A spokesman for The King said: “This is one of the last moments for Her Majesty the Queen as opposed to the first for His Majesty.”
Dignitaries will be bussed in to the funeral.
They have been told to gather at the Royal Hospital Chelsea and travel under “collective arrangements”, a palace source said.
King Charles spent yesterday speaking to world leaders and receiving condolences.
He has also asked to meet workers from all the emergency services to thank them for helping to arrange the funeral.
