Many world leaders and members of the royal family gathered in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis.
On Saturday morning, among the most important characters in the Vatican Saint-Pierre square, Prince William, President Donald Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Their presence comes at a fragile time for international diplomacy, Trump meeting the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky before the service.
So, among the VIP participants, who sat next to whom?
Trump and Zelensky with 10 separate seats
Trump was in a seat at the line at the front near the coffin of Francis, alongside his wife Melania Trump, through the aisle of Macron and his wife Brigitte.
Curiously, he and the first lady Melania were seated between two firm supporters of Ukraine. The president of Estonia, Alar Karis, was on the left of Melania, and Alexander Stubb from Finland to the right of Trump.
(Getty Images)
Melania Trump wore a finely detailed outfit for mass (Getty Images)
The Trumps taken sandwich by Alexander Stubb from Finland (to the left of this image) and the president of Estonia, Alar Karis (to the right of the center) (AFP)
Estonia and Finland are both firm allies of another man from the presence – Zelensky, who looked dark in the Vatican. He was sitting on the same row as Macron, separated by a few other dignitaries.
Zelensky, who has been locked in the negotiations and public arguments with Trump in recent weeks, was only 10 seats and an alley of him, on the same row.
Shortly before the start of the funeral, The pair was photographed sitting locked in a deep discussion.
The White House described the 15 -minute meeting as “very productive”, while Zelensky said that it was “very symbolic” and had “the potential to become historic”.
(BBC)
Zelensky with his wife Olena (Reuters)
The seats plan
VIPs were in a section separate from the hundreds of thousands of public members who went down to Rome for the event.
The dignitaries were seated on the right side of the square, next to the St Peter basilica.
Those who have the best seats were Javier Milei, president of the native Argentina of Francis, the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Italian president Sergio Mattarella, representing the country surrounding the state of the city of the Vatican.
Behind them, the sovereigns reigned and other delegations were seated in the alphabetical order in French, the official language of diplomacy, on other benches.
(BBC)
Italian president Sergio Mattarella (on the left), the secretary general of the presidency in Argentina Karina Milei (on the left of the center) and the president of Argentina, Javier Milei (center), in their main seats (Getty Images)
Representing British royalty, the Prince of Wales was seated next to the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with several rows from the front, and at a certain distance from Starmer.
(BBC)
(Reuters)
Prince William (center) seated next to Scholz (right) (Reuters)
Starmer himself sat in the fifth row with his wife Victoria.
Behind the British leader was the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Starmers (center) and the WHO chief (left) (AFP)
Keir Starmer was joined by his Foreign Affairs Secretary David Lammy (Getty Images)
Former American president Joe Biden was seen hand in hand with his wife Jill. He was sitting on four rows behind Trump.
(AFP)
Some dignitaries who attended the ceremony were seen take photos on their phone while the Pope's coffin was transported to St Peter's square. (Getty Images)
European leaders and royalty
Many European leaders, as well as the royalty of European countries, were present.
French President Emmanuel Macron and the First Lady of France Brigitte Macron (left), along the row of Trumps (AFP)
The macrons looked at the service near their position at the forefront, and the French president shook Trump's hand.
(AFP)
(AFP)
The president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen was in the procedure and was seen discussing with Macron.
(Getty Images)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the funeral (Getty Images)
The Crown Prince of Norway Haakon and Princess Couronne Mette-Marit (Reuters)
The King of Spain Felipe and Queen Letizia (Reuters)
The Princess of Monaco Charlene (left) and Prince Albert II (Center) (Reuters)
The other political figures and the royal family participating in the pope's funeral included:
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President Poland Andrzej Duda
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The President of the Dominican Republic Luis Abinader
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Belgium King Philippe and Queen Mathilde
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German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier
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Croatia President Zoran Milanovic
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The president of Ecuador Daniel Noboa
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Ireland Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin
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The president of Moldova Maia Sandu
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The president of Latvia Edgars Rinkevics
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New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon
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Swedish king Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia
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A secretary general Antonio Guterres
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Jordan King Abdullah II and Reine Rania
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Hungary President Tamas Sulyok and Prime Minister Viktor Orban
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President of the European Council Antonio Costa
Fixed April 26, 2025: This story has been updated to remove the reference to Chen Dog Jen, who is the former vice-president of Taiwan, and not the Vice-President of China, as originally indicated in this story.
