LONDON, May 4. /TASS/. The Ukrainian president’s wife, Elena Zelenskaya, will be among the guests of honor at King Charles III’s coronation, Sky News reported on Thursday.
According to the media outlet, which covered a meeting between Ukraine’s first lady and the British prime minister’s wife Akshata Murthy, Zelenskaya has arrived in London to represent her husband Vladimir Zelensky at the coronation ceremony set for May 6.
According to the British media, the ceremony will be attended by more than 100 heads of state, the leaders of the British Overseas Territories and the independent countries where Charles III formally remains the head of state. Sky News reported earlier that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be absent from the ceremony due to the sharp deterioration in relations between the two countries caused by the conflict in Ukraine. According to Reuters, the UK also chose not to invite any officials from Belarus, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Iran or Syria. The news outlet said that high-ranking diplomats have been invited to represent North Korea and Nicaragua. Chinese President Xi Jinping will also be absent from the coronation with Vice President Han Zheng expected to represent the country.
Buckingham Palace announced that over 2,200 guests had been invited to attend the ceremony, which is almost four times less compared to the 1953 coronation of Charles III’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II.