The coronation of King Charles III will be attended by just 2 000 people – a fraction of the more than 8 000 guests who crammed into Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth II’s crowning in 1953.
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Here’s what we know about who is expected to be there and who’s not.
Turning up
– Prince Harry, estranged from most members of his family after quitting royal duties and airing his grievances in public, confirmed he will attend after months of reported negotiations with Buckingham Palace.
He will not be accompanied by his wife Meghan who will stay at home in California with their children.
– World leaders including the French President Emmanuel Macron; Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese; German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier; Polish President Andrzej Duda; President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr; and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission.
– UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty along with members of the cabinet.
– Hundreds of community heroes honoured by the monarchy including English schoolboy Max Woosey who slept in a tent in his garden for three years to raise money for charity, and Richard Thomas who delivered 10,000 prescriptions to people during the Covid-19 lockdown.
– Four hundred young people from organisations supported by the royal family.
– Royals including King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain; Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark; Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko of Japan; Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco; and King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan.
– Around 80 members of the lower and upper houses of the UK parliament.
– Food writer Tom Parker Bowles and art curator Laura Lopes, Queen Camilla’s children.
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Staying away or not invited
– US President Joe Biden will represented by his wife First Lady Jill Biden. UK and US officials say this is in line with precedent and no president has ever attended a British sovereign’s coronation.
The White House insisted the no-show by Biden who is famously proud of his Irish roots “is not a snub”.
It said the president and the king enjoyed a “good relationship” and Biden had already accepted Charles’s invitation for a state visit to the UK.
– Prince Harry’s wife Meghan will remain in California with children Lilibet and Archie, whose fourth birthday falls on the day of the coronation.
– Most of Britain’s 24 non-royal dukes. The aristocrats normally attend in coronation robes and coronets but appear to have lost out due to Charles’s reported wish for the invitation list to be “meritocratic not aristocratic”.
The Duke of Rutland told the Daily Mail he was disappointed as it had been “families like mine that have supported he royal family over 1,000 years”.
– British MPs have not been allowed to bring spouses or partners.
– Sarah Ferguson, ex-wife of the king’s brother Prince Andrew who still lives with him on the royal family’s Windsor estate. Ferguson has repeatedly embarrassed the royal family.
– Lady Pamela Mountbatten, 94, daughter of Charles’s great uncle and mentor Earl Mountbatten of Burma and one of only two surviving bridesmaids from Queen Elizabeth II’s 1947 wedding.
Her daughter, India Hicks, said on Instagram the family had been contacted by a royal aide. She said they understood that the king was sending “apologies for offending many family and friends with the reduced list”.
By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
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