Even the world's only serving emperor Naruhito, and his empress Masako must ride the bus to the Queen's funeral

LONDON — The Japanese emperor, who lives in luxury in Tokyo’s Imperial Palace, will ride a crowded shuttle bus to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on Monday.

But while Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako have been cheerful about the communal transport, some other world leaders have not, especially because President Biden and a few select others will arrive in their own armored vehicles.

“They all would prefer to have their own car,” said an exhausted British government official, one of the hundreds working on the queen’s funeral.

Laying to rest the best-known woman in the world has turned into a gigantic diplomatic challenge. Members of the 23 royal families will be seated in the first rows of Westminster Abbey, in front of President Biden and about 90 other presidents and prime ministers, as dictated by protocol.

Leaders of nearly 200 countries and territories flying into London were strongly encouraged to take commercial flights because of the complexity of scheduling landing slots all around the same time at airports still short-staffed from the coronavirus pandemic. But many private jets are coming anyway.

Intense negotiations are going on behind the scenes in an area called “the Hangar” at the U.K. foreign office. Hundreds of people are working on requests from the nearly 500 foreign dignitaries who will attend the funeral.

There have already been diplomatic spats. Lindsay Hoyle, speaker of the House of Commons, blocked a Chinese delegation from attending this week’s public viewing of the queen’s coffin in Westminster Hall.

Hoyle cited China’s decision to refuse to allow some British politicians to travel to China because they have criticized Beijing’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman responded sharply: “As the host, the British side should uphold diplomatic etiquette and hospitality.”

Vice President Wang Qishan is leading the Chinese delegation. President Xi Jinping was invited but declined.

Almost every country or territory with diplomatic relations with Britain was invited. Some didn’t make the list, including Russia, Belarus and Myanmar, over the Ukraine war and human rights abuses. A few nations, including Iran, North Korea and Nicaragua, were invited to send an ambassador, but not their head of state.

The invitation includes a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by King Charles III on Sunday night and another reception immediately after the funeral.

Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is attending, but her husband is expected not to.

British officials said they were not sure if Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was attending. U.S. intelligence officials have said MBS, as he is known, was behind the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing writer.

Khashoggi’s fiancee said that his presence would be a “stain” on the queen’s memory.

Queen Elizabeth II had personally met many of those who will attend her funeral. She traveled to more than 100 countries. In many cases she met several generations of leaders.

Many guests will be in their 80s and even their 90s, and how to seat them quickly and comfortably has also been planned extensively.

For example, Spain’s King Felipe VI, 54, and Queen Letizia, 50, are coming. So are the king’s parents, former King Juan Carlos I, 84, and his wife, former Queen Sofía, 83, who also knew Elizabeth.

The VIP guests have made a constant stream of special requests. Some have asked to bring their doctor, some a personal assistant. Some have requested a private room where they can rest.

“You can’t just issue a blanket ‘no,’ but nine times out of ten it is a ‘no,’” the official said. “But we want everyone to leave with a good impression.” (cont.)

(cont.) One exception: interpreters. Vice President Wang of China, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and a handful of others asked for an interpreter because they speak no English. Fewer than ten of those requests were granted, but for the receptions only — not for the funeral itself, where space will be severely limited.

Having so many world leaders in one place offers rare opportunities for them to talk without aides and notetakers, said Capricia Marshall, former chief of protocol for the United States in the Obama administration.

“They don’t have anyone else to talk to but each other, and they take advantage of that,” said Marshall.

Usually countries send lower-ranking officials to funerals and other events, Marshall said.

Karen Pierce, Britain’s ambassador to the United States, said she believes Biden is the first U.S. president to attend a British state funeral. The last state funeral was in 1965 for Winston Churchill and Lyndon B. Johnson had been hospitalized around that time.

Former British ambassador to the United States Peter Westmacott noted that there is always the possibility of things going badly between leaders who have strong personal or national differences. But, he said, the queen’s death has caused “an outbreak of civility.”

He cited Macron, the French president who has many differences with Britain over Brexit, the U.K.’s departure from Europe, and personal disagreements with new prime minister Liz Truss and her predecessor, Boris Johnson.

He’s pretty hopping mad with Liz Truss and Boris Johnson,” Westmacott said. “But look at the nice things he’s been saying about the queen and the relationship between Britain and France.”

In the end, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declined to come after being told he couldn’t being his own presidential car — an exception to the rules granted only to Biden, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and a couple of others.

“That call was made based on security concerns. It has nothing to do with special relationship or politics,” said the British official.

When the British refused Erdogan’s request, he decided to send his foreign minister in his place.

To many Britons, the idea of pampered princesses and world leaders hopping on a bus is just amusing.

“All the world leaders are on a field trip,” said British comedian Jimmy Carr, when asked for his thoughts by The Washington Post. “And you know who is actually in charge? For that 45 minutes, the leader of the world is the bus driver. ‘My bus, my rules! Sit down in the back. North Korea, get along with South Korea. Sit down! China, what are you doing in the back? Sit down!’”

Carr agreed with the protocol experts that the bus time presented opportunities.

“I think more could get done on that bus in 40 minutes than has been done in the U.N. in the last 40 years. Maybe Israel and Palestine sit next to each other on the bus and go, ‘You know what, we’ve got a lot in common. What did you bring for lunch, Palestine? Hummus? Well, I’ve got some pitas. Let’s do this.’”

OP, an Emperor outranks the Kings and Queens within his empire, as often the area was so vast that it was a union of kingdoms with an Emperor as king of kings.

The Emperor of Japan does not outrank the King or Queen (regnant) of another country.

Well… they’re not that important (Japanese royals). They don’t have any power, their titles are ceremonial. It must be a nightmare for the organizers, however.

[quote] Well… they’re not that important (Japanese royals). They don’t have any power, their titles are ceremonial

As opposed to other royals?

Only a very few--the Sultan of Brunei, the Saudis, and a few emirs in the Arab nations--have any actual power. Nut they are not necessarily seated in front of the Japanese or the other ceremonial monarchs (the kings of Spain and Sweden and Norway and Belgium and the Netherlands, the queen of Denmark, etc.)

These silly buses are just plain tacky.

Don't forget about me r5!

The pope will not be attending the Queen's funeral, r7.

He indeed rode the bus to the reception. He walked into Buckingham Palace next to Princess (former Queen) Beatrix. They were chatty. It almost looked like he helped her into the front door.

r8 that wasn't the point of my statement. Never said he was attending.

I think it’s hilarious…and a delicious reminder to anyone who thinks the US’s role on the world stage is in peril.

Calling a King “Emperor” doesn’t make him an Emperor.

Nobody wants to take these cute little Japanese Royals out, but the President of a nuclear power, yeah probably

R11 it’s arrogant and shows the insatiable need for the US (or, in the very least) its leadership to always be treated differently.

Kings, Queens and an Emperor are willing to travel by bus without drawing any attention to themselves.

But little miss USA throws a tantrum and wants to be moved from A to B in that hideous SUV dressed up like a limousine.

It’s obscene, is what it is.

[quote] Calling a King “Emperor” doesn’t make him an Emperor.

Then you just go right ahead and refer to him as a king all you like, Mary! No one will stop you!

R14, sorry to disturb your xenophobic rant, but it appears the President of the US wasn’t the only person to take their own vehicle. Several European monarchs arrived in a single coach, and several world leaders arrived in another. Where’s your ire for the Jordanians…whose King and Queen showed up in one car, and their son the Crown Prince in a separate car? What about ALL of the Middle Eastern rulers who showed up in their own vehicles?

One could argue our irrational disdain for the US highlights Biden’s need for his own transportation.

Well, r14, the US is not little. Whether you like it or not, it’s the most powerful country in the world, and for every two-bit terrorist wanting to take out the king of Spain, there are probably 10,000 who would love to take out Biden.

It should be an enlightening expetience for all of them as i am quite sure None of them have ever ridden in a bus before. I wonder if they have to put their coinage into the little coin slot ? Lol

How delightful that SOMEbody is wearing a mask.

@r14, "it’s arrogant and shows the insatiable need for the US (or, in the very least) its leadership to always be treated differently. "

At least Joe Biden can sign a document without a staff of 5 grown men to assist with the fucking inkwell 😠

Considering that Masako's life has been ruined by this absurd royalty nonsense, I can't get too concerned, but my guess is that she'll enjoy the bus ride and the chance to talk to some normal smart people for a change.

I do hope King Charles III comes to the US for a visit. We will be happy to provide a map and a bus schedule to get him from the airport to the White House

Dutchie - I'm disappointed in you. You're normally more level-headed than this.

It's a laugh that the British are complaining. They could have held a small private funeral with a few close members like meghan and Andrew. All this would have been avoided and believe me, the rest of the world and the leaders would've sighed with relief and sent a wreath.

Civilized countries like Japan don't really mind. For true royalty, to complain would not be noblesse oblige. It would be like being invited to dinner and complaining about the poor fare.

[quote] Civilized countries like Japan don't really mind.

From peasant up to royalty, the Japanese would never publicly gripe. It is not their way.

I have a bad feeling about this: all the world's leaders stuffed into a bus where it is vulnerable while on the route?

The world's foremost pariah would be the prime suspect for any such r27.

[quote] None of them have ever ridden in a bus before.

I have to be that guy and point out Biden took public transportation for DECADES to Washington.

And r29, I saw him often on the train to DC where he commuted by himself.

America has the BIGGEST DICK on planet earth! We will do WHATEVER we want! These goddamn Brits should be grateful that Joe Biden doesn’t just land Air Force One on the street right outside Westminster, hop off and kick the fucking door in wearing his sunglasses like a boss!

If Biden rode the bus, he would have to have an aide next to him carrying the nuclear "football," which would be ridiculous.

Pretty much true, r31.

One well, place bomb in that bus could turn into a worldwide fiasco. I don’t think this was well thought out by the BRITs.

[quote]They could have held a small private funeral with a few close members like meghan and Andrew.

Hi Meghan

Like it or not, the US President is the most powerful person in the world. As such, anywhere he travels is a security risk, and appropriate precautions are necessary.

[quote] I do hope King Charles III comes to the US for a visit. We will be happy to provide a map and a bus schedule to get him from the airport to the White House

You jest R22, but just a few years ago, Prince William flew on US Airways from NYC to Washington. Yes, he was in “first” but this is US Airways we are talking about. Anderson Cooper was on the flight and mildly whined about getting bumped into coach IIRC.

r37 not that impressive. The RF has flown on loads of Commercial flights. Princess Maraget and her gay husband flew British airways during her 1960s trip to the US. Though they cleared out the first class cabin for the royal couple. Prince Charles road on a bus with other royals to the King of Denmark's coronation. But, the Queen has never stooped so low. She is always in her own car. King Charles is like the same. I believe the BRF, like the US President, seeing themselves as the West's leading royal family, just like the US sees itself as the leading Western power.

So when they ask the US president to ride in a bus it makes sense for the head of of state of a stronger, wealthier, nuclear power to say no. Just as the Brits would do if Queen Elizabeth or King Charles were visiting any other nation.

The queen was. Past-tense since she's now dead.

I BEG your pardon. The Queen IS, and the Queen LIVES!!!

And don't forget, sweeties!

The Bus vs car determinations are entirely down to who might be the target of jihadis. Britain has become the largest hub of jihadis outside the middle east - it's so bad there that Theresa May turned down the genuine aylum applications of brutalised Pakistani Christians on the basis they would be in danger in Britain as well.

If you accept millions of jihadis into your country and allow them to operate with relative impunity, allowing every dignitary to arrive in their own vehicle means every single vehicle needs to be fully secured by MI5 and MI6. They simply don't have the manpower to do that.

[quote] It’s obscene, is what it is.

Sounds like someone’s very sensitive to the fact that, since WWII, the US has had a vital role in assisting with the incredible material prosperity of Europe, and has essentially guaranteed the security of the west. The US deserves to be treated a bit differently. And the people who’ve been protected are often full of resentment over it. Which happens sometimes.

The Pax Americana is the reason the Netherlands only spends 1.45% of their gdp on defense, a ludicrously small amount. This permits the Dutch to spend so much on the social programs they’re so smug about.

And as this is a British affair, of course US/UK relations have to be considered. Particularly after BREXIT, the “special relationship” means more than ever.

It’s interesting — you’d think that after Trump, an isolationist and semi-puppet of the Russians who very much wanted to leave the Europeans to the tender mercy of Russia, the Europeans might appreciate the US a bit more, for all its faults (which I readily admit). Nope.

Emperor of Japan is a vestigial title. There isn't a Japanese Empire anymore.

That’s not true. There were Japanese emperors long before there was an “Empire of Japan.”

Didn't they get the memo, NO MASKS!

Heavenly Emperor.

So who did ride the bus finally and which boors insisted on using their own transportation,?

Was Queen Daisy on that bus? Because she's got the COVID for the second time this year.

So did the Brits hand out salted peanuts to the heads of state after forcing them to ride the bus?

After demonstrating emergency evacuation procedures, Carole Middleton handed out chocolates and headphones for the ride to Westminster.

Queen Margrethe II is looking pretty bald there, and with her ginormous head that's not a good thing.

It won't be too long before she looks like this:

@r51, "Carole Middleton handed out chocolates and headphones for the ride to Westminster. "

She was last heard saying, "Doors to manual, my daughter is going to be Queen, you peasants, doors to manual"

So why wasn't the British monarch an emperor/empress when there was an empire?

They were. Victoria through George VI.

^ 1976 - 1948.

r55 But no one called them that -- they're still referred to as KING George and QUEEN Victoria, no?

They called her Princess Diana her whole marriage and thereafter too, R57.

The title is the title and they were King Emperor or Queen Empresses. Can't help you out.

George V, King Emperor coin.

You follow. It's on the money.

Why then, you wonder, did they not say things like the King Emperor wants a grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch today.

Well, because they went by jurisdiction. It's like when he was Prince of Wales, Prince Charles went by his title in Scotland: Duke of Rothesay.

Why?

Because you don't look to monarchy for understandable logic, just somewhat linear logic.

Victoria was made Empress of India as well of Queen of the United Kingdom in 1886, and was thereafter often referred to as the Queen-Empress.

Of her successors, Edward VII, george V, and Edward VII were all King-Emperors. They were referred to both as the King and as the King-Emperor (and the wives of the first two were referred to both as the Queen and as the Queen-Empress).

George VI, the father of Elizabeth II, was the last monarch crowned as King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India. In 1947, when India became independent, he had to relinquish the "Emperor of India" title. His wife Queen Elizabeth (later referred to as the Queen Mother) was also the Queen-Empress until 1847.

But why just "emperor of India?" What about the rest of the British Empire?

That was just how they worded it, r63. India really was an empire after the establishment of the Raj in 1848; before that time, the Indian subcontinent was a loose amalgamation of small and larger princely states warring with one another. But the British took over after the Great Sepoy Rebellion of 1847-48 and forged an empire out of all the independent states.

The admission that India was an empire still took nearly forty years afterwards to accomplish, and it was an action done mostly by the Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli to please and flatter Queen Victoria. Before then the British did not like to admit they were an empire, because they always started as mercantile concerns who then eventually consolidated their control over foreign lands subtly (they rarely just invaded other countries the way the Japanese and Germans did in the 30s and the 40s, which is one thing that made them so pernicious).

^^ the British took South Asia over from the Mughal Empire. There were other smaller kingdoms under the Mughals. The British had treaties with these kingdoms which essentially ruled themselves domestically as Native States in what became the British Indian Empire.

What was the Indian empire of the Mughals was ruled directly by the British as 4-5 provinces, like the Bombay (like the gin) and Madras (yeah, like the pants) Presidencies.

The Japanese Royals are the epitome of class and grace.

Because the Imperial Household makes sure we know nothing about them, r66?

India is a overpopulated, very poor third world country, why would England want.it anyway?

I bet the British security services were also working overtime before, during and after the funeral. Thankfully, we didn't have a real-life London Has Fallen movie tragedy!

Or worse, King Ralph.

[quote]India is a overpopulated, very poor third world country, why would England want.it anyway?

It was the Jewel in the Crown!

R68 England impoverished India. It is known to historians and economists as the deindustrialization of India.

When England (vying with the French, Portuguese, Danes) first approached India, hat in hand, it was because it was far wealthier than England, and England wanted to trade with it.

Turns out Biden and his missus should have taken that bus. They would have arrived on time and taken their seats at once, this instead of being made to wait.

Were they the two people who got off the bus with their cameras in hand?

@r73, If only you had been there as funeral director the world would be a better place... Putz 😂

Victoria I was ambivalent if not reluctant about the whole "empress of India" bit.

One of HM's main worries, and she expressed this to her PM was that her family (Saxe-Coburg Gotha) was long accused in royal circles of picking up any crown that fell onto the ground.

As opposed to Victoria II?

Who should expect less? Certainly not us

The footnoted version suggests neither reluctant nor ambivalent, R76. Do you just make it up as you go?

The Royal Titles Act of 1876 was also close to Victoria's heart, and caused Disraeli considerable political difficulties. Since 1858, when Britain assumed direct control of the territories formerly managed by the East India Company, the queen had been spoken of informally as the empress of India. Victoria was now delighted by Disraeli's proposal that 'empress of India' be added to her formal style, although she was keen to point out that it would make no difference to her style in Britain, believing the title was 'best understood in the East, but which Great Britain (which is an Empire) never has acknowledged to be higher than King or Queen' (Letters, 2nd ser., 2.450–51). She denied it strongly, but the fact that the unified Germany now had an emperor (and her daughter would one day be empress) and that her second son, Alfred, had married into the Russian imperial family in 1873 also weighed with her, as issues of precedence and rank arose: the senior monarch of Europe, she would not allow her family to be belittled as Albert had been by rank-conscious foreigners. She found the outcry against the new title incomprehensible, dismissing Liberal objections as mere party factionalism: her relationship with Lord Granville (who had formerly been the acceptable face of the Gladstonian administration) never recovered from his publicly stated opposition. She was proclaimed empress of India on 1 January 1877 at a spectacular durbar at Delhi, stage-managed by the viceroy, Lord Lytton, and the same day signed herself for the first time ‘Victoria R & I’ ('Victoria regina et imperatrix', Victoria, queen and empress). It was intended that she should use the new designation only in her dealings with India, but she soon made it her usual style.

Passionately involved, she intervened in Indian politics, commissioned artists and photographers to record a landscape and people that she never saw herself, sent her sons as ambassadors to the subcontinent, and surrounded herself with the trappings of the Indian conquest, from the Koh-i-Noor diamond to her own Indian troop escort and servants.

Indian politics and society were in turn fundamentally reshaped by her influence: maharajas vied for her favour, missionaries used her as a tool for conversion and Indian reformers turned to her as a symbol of justice and equality. She also became an object of fascination and veneration: hundreds of popular biographies and tributes emerged from the vernacular printing presses, and her two jubilees of 1887 and 1897 were celebrated with unprecedented gusto.

In this new and original account, Miles Taylor charts the remarkable effects India had on the queen as well as the pivotal role she played in India. Drawing on official papers and an abundance of poems, songs, diaries and photographs, Taylor challenges the notion that Victoria enjoyed only ceremonial power and that India’s loyalty to her was without popular support. On the contrary, the rule of the queen-empress penetrated deep into Indian life and contributed significantly to the country’s modernisation, both political and economic.

Before the royal bus situation even happened, it was reported that there were three heads of state who would not be riding in the bus, but instead riding in individual cars: 1.) president of the United States; 2.) emperor of Japan ; and 3.) prime minister of Israel (for fear of harm or assassination).

As stated, Biden was not on the bus but arrived in "The Beast," his own secure car. I don't know if the prime minster of Israel attended. However, the emperor of Japan was not supposed to be on the bus. Maybe he agreed to take the bus instead of being driven in a car.