NORTH Korea will be allowed to send an ambassador to The Queen's funeral – but Kim Jong-un will not be welcome.
The ruthless tyrant will be one of the few world leader's snubbed from the guest list, along with Russian ruler Vladimir Putin and Iran's leaders president Ebrahim Raisi & The Ayatollah.
Whitehall sources confirmed Pyongyang has only been invited to The Queen's funeral at an ambassadorial level in a snub to nuke-mad Kim.
Syria, Venezuela and Afghanistan have also been complete cut from the guest list of world leaders.
The world is expected to descend on the capital on Monday to pay tributes to Her Majesty – who was at the centre of world affairs for 70 years.
US President Joe Biden, the Emperor of Japan Naruhito, the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad al Thani and others will be among the 2,000 dignitaries at Westminster Abbey.
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But a small number of nations have been either totally snubbed or only given ambassadorial privileges for the funeral.
Russia, Belarus, Myanmar, Syria and Venezuela have all been completely cut from the invitations.
North Korea is an extraordinarily isolated beggar kingdom – with Kim only very rarely making foreign trips to his closest allies.
But surprisingly the rogue state does maintain an embassy in London.
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Its base of operations being found in a detached seven-bedroom house on a leafy street in Ealing.
Kim did send a message of congratulations to The Queen earlier this year as she celebrated her Platinum Jubilee.
"I extend my congratulations to you and your people on the occasion of the National Day of your country, the official birthday of Your Majesty," said Kim.
North Korea is one of the few countries that The Queen never visited during her incredible reign.
But she did pay a visit to South Korea – with President Yoon Suk-yeol expected to attend the funeral.
Britain has maintained relations with North Korea since 2000.
Pyongyang continues to cause trouble on the world stage however as Kim continues to quest to develop nuclear missiles.
And the 38-year-old tyrant – one of the world's younger leaders – rules over his impoverished people with an iron fist.
His last foreign trip was in June 2019 when he visited South Korea to meet with then US President Donald Trump.
He only made his first official trip aboard little over a year previously when he travelled to China in 2018.
Kim did have cosy relationship with Trump as North Korea appeared to begin opening up.
But their bromance soured after a collapse of a summit as they failed to come to an agreement over North Korea's nukes.
And then Covid appears to have only deepened the beggar kingdom's isolation.
Kim is now believed to be back questing for nuclear missile as relations have once again frosted over with the US and South Korea.
It came as The Queen's son King Charles III, his sons Princes William and Harry and other senior royals joined a solemn procession to take her coffin from Buckingham Palace to parliament on Wednesday.
Artillery guns fired salutes and Big Ben tolled as huge crowds gathered in central London to witness the latest in a series of poignant ceremonies
Lying on a gun carriage, covered by the Royal Standard flag and with the Imperial State Crown placed on a cushion on top alongside a wreath of flowers, the coffin bearing Elizabeth's body began a slow, sombre procession from her palace home to Westminster Hall.
Here body will lie in state for four days.
Walking directly behind were Charles and his siblings, Anne, Andrew and Edward.
In a group following them were Charles's sons Princes William and Harry, a doleful scene reminiscent of when, as boys 25 years ago, they followed the casket of their mother Princess Diana when it was taken on a similar procession through central London.
It was also a symbolic show of unity as William, 40, now the Prince of Wales, and Harry, 37, the Duke of Sussex, are now said to be barely be on speaking terms after a bitter falling out in the last couple of years.
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