Funeral protocol: Where Trump, Mostyn and Queen Mary will sit

Donald Trump will be seated far from Volodymyr Zelensky, Prince William is further back than Governor-General Sam Mostyn and Queen Mary of Denmark will be in the front row at Pope Francis’s funeral.

Donald Trump will be seated far from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prince William is placed further back than Australian Governor-General Sam Mostyn and Australia’s Queen Mary of Denmark will be in the front row, along with other reigning monarchs as world leaders attend Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday.

St Peter’s Square will be filled with global leaders, monarchs, heads of state and other VIPs as well as a crowd expected to be more than 150,000 for the funeral which starts at 10am (6pm AEST) under intense security arrangements.

More than 10 reigning monarchs, including Queen Mary will be in the front row to the right of the altar at the top of the steps leading toward St. Peter’s Basilica alongside the delegation from the Pope’s home nation, Argentina and the home of the Catholic Church, Italy.

She will be positioned between the Belgium King Filippo and the United Arab Emerites Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bid Zayed al Nahyan.

Argentina’s president Javier Milei who once called Francis an “imbecile defending social justice” will have the prime position.

Pope Francis's coffin is closed after he lay in state for four days. Picture: Jacquelin Magnay.

Others to have a clear view of proceedings include kings and queens from Spain, Andorra, Jordan, Lesotho, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Sweden.

William, the Prince of Wales, will be much further back, because as an heir, he is not considered as important as world presidents or governor-generals such as Australia’s delegation of the Governor-General Sam Mostyn and her partner Simeon Beckett, Senator Don Farrell and his wife Nimfa, and Michael McCormack.

The Australians will be sandwiched between Austria and Armenia.

The seating pattern follows a strict protocol, and uses the French language to order each country’s representatives, which leaves United States President Donald Trump next to the leaders of Estonia and Finland and distanced from Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky. But he wont be too far away from French president Emmanuel Macron.

After the heads of state, come the heirs to the throne: Prince William as well as Norwegian Prince Haakon and Princess Mette-Marit.

Then the seating flows through to prime ministers such as British leader Sir Keir Starmer, vice-presidents, parliamentary presidents, other diplomats, heads of international organisations, other ministers, “other” personalities such as the former US president Joe Biden, ambassadors and then finishing up with the “extra” delegations which comprise the Kosovo prime minister Albin Kurt and the Vietnam ambassador Duong Hai Hung.

The Vatican said that more than 130 foreign delegations had indicated their attendance at the funeral. Behind the scenes has been a meticulous sweep of the area by police and three layers of security checks for the huge influx of mourners.

Snipers have been positioned on Vatican roofs for the past few days and helicopters have been sweeping the area with powerful floodlights. Authorities say fighter jets and counter drone equipment is on standby.

Nearly 200,000 people had filed past Francis’ body, lying in state inside the St Peter’s Basilica over the past three days.

After criticism of the first day’s viewing when many people took selfies and videos on their phone, Vatican officials began ordering phones to be put away inside the Basilica as a mark of respect.

The pontiff, who died on Monday in his rooms after suffering a stroke and heart failure, was 88.