The carefully planned choreography of the late Queen’s burial was not permitted to be disturbed by the US president Joe Biden and his wife Jill’s late arrival.
The first couple, aged 79 and 71, had to be gently informed that they would need to wait patiently as a procession of George and Victoria Cross-holders marched in front of them along the nave of the abbey rather than being led directly to their seats upon their arrival at Westminster Abbey.
The US president had been granted special permission to travel to the abbey in “the Beast,” a heavily armoured limousine employed by US presidents for security concerns, rather than being bussed there with the other heads of state and government.
Camera footage uploaded on social media showed the Bidens driving slowly through central London, even coming to a halt outside a Pret a Manger on Oxford Street.
After entering hand in hand, the Bidens took their seats in the abbey at 10.05 a.m. According to the Buckingham Palace schedule, the 500 invited dignitaries should have been seated between 9.35am and 9.55am.
The Bidens were allocated seats 14 rows back in the abbey’s south transept after opting out of the buses that took other leaders from the assembly place at Royal Hospital Chelsea.
The US president took his seat behind Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and in front of Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala. Jill Biden sat at her husband’s left, close to Switzerland’s President Ignazio Cassis.