The Politics of a Monarch's Death

The first sign of troubled political waters arose yesterday as foreign leaders began arriving to pay respects to the former head of state.   There came reports that a Chinese government delegation was banned from attending the lying-in-state of Queen Elizabeth II.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is understood to have refused a request for access over Chinese sanctions against five MPs and two peers.  A spokeswoman for China, Mao Ning, said he  had not seen reports about the Westminster Hall ban, which first emerged on the Politico website.

Last year, China imposed travel bans and asset freezes on nine Britons - including seven parliamentarians - for accusing Beijing of mistreating Uyghur Muslims.  That led to China's ambassador to the UK being banned from Parliament - a move which then extended to a delegation that wanted to pay their respects at Queen Elizabeth's lying-in-state. 

After several hours of negotiations and discussion, the UK Parliament announced that the Chinese delegation would be welcome to attend the Queen's lying-in-state.  This was despite some MPs saying they were earlier assured by the Commons Speaker that a Chinese delegation would not be welcome in Westminster Hall.  China's ambassador to the UK continued to be barred from Westminster Hall over Chinese sanctions on five MPs and two peers-- but it would not be extended to the other officials.

However, politics continued to reign over arrangements on who would be attending the actual funeral itself.   According to convention, all countries with which the UK has diplomatic relations would normally be invited to state funerals.  Accordingly, Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Russia and Belarus were not been invited - whilst Iran, North Korea and Nicaragua were asked to only send a senior diplomat.

China's President Xi Jinping is on the guest list for the funeral ceremony but is not thought likely to attend.  A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said that no decision had been made on whether they will be sending a delegation to the funeral, although press reports have suggested China's vice president will attend.

It is widely believe that President Joe Biden chose not to bring a U.S. delegation to the funeral specifically to avoid the possibility that Donald Trump would join the delegation (along with other former U.S. presidents).  It is a poorly kept secret that the Royal family detest Trump due to his disastrous time in office and the numerous mishaps, gaffes and insults during his visits in 2018 and 2019.

Then came the reports late Saturday that Britain's invitation to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed Bin Salman, to attend the Queen's funeral had sparked a storm of protest from human rights campaigners.

A declassified CIA report concluded that the crown prince had authorized the murder and dismemberment of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018.   But this morning, news came out that MBS was no longer expected to attend the Queen's funeral, according to a UK Foreign Office source.  The source, quoted by Reuters, said the change was made by the Saudis.  Prince Turki al-Faisal, another senior Saudi royal, is expected to attend the funeral instead.