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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
Sophie Collins

Queen's funeral: Taoiseach and President expected to be among hundreds of world leaders in attendance

President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Micheal Martin are expected to be among hundreds of world leaders attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in London on September 19.

The late monarch is due to be buried after a funeral mass which is due to take place in Westminster Abbey next Monday.

Last week, Mr Martin would not confirm whether he would head to London for the funeral, telling reporters that it was a decision to be made by officials in the UK.

READ MORE: The Queen's final days at Balmoral - 'full of fun', Liz Truss meeting and sacred family time

“Suffice to say that we as a Government would be pretty clear in terms of our expressions of sympathies to the British people,” he said.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney may also be in attendance, however, this has not been confirmed at this point either.

Taoiseach and President could be among hundreds of world leaders to attend Queen Elizabeth II's funeral (AFP via Getty Images)

He spoke to RTE Radio One yesterday and described his fond memories of being the ministerial companion to the queen when she visited back in 2011.

He recalled showing her around the English Market in Co Cork and said as they finished up, she decided last-minute to go and speak to the public.

“After we finished the visit to the English Market, she walked out onto the main street and she said to me, ‘I’m going to cross the street now and I’m going to meet the public.’

“She hadn’t met any of the Irish public during her visit and this was her last day, for security reasons. And I said to her, ‘Are you sure that’s the right thing to do and your security detail will allow you to do that?’

“And she turned to me again and said, ‘I’m going to cross the street and I’m going to meet the public’, as if to say, ‘I’m the Queen and I’ll be doing what I see fit.’

“She must have spent 10 or 15 minutes talking to hundreds and hundreds of people that had gathered.”

Minister Coveney also spoke about the potential for King Charles to visit Ireland very soon - and suggested that it may be within the next twelve months.

“He is somebody who has been to Ireland virtually every year with the exception of the Covid years for quite some time now,” he told RTE’s This Week.

He said: “I will be very surprised if we didn’t formally invite him early in his monarchy to come and to build on the relationship that his mother I think so successfully impacted on back in 2011.”

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