A letter supposedly from Buckingham Palace on Thursday barring Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s entry to the Queen’s burial is bogus, according to the British Embassy in Harare. President Mnangagwa has been invited to attend Monday’s burial for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, the embassy announced on Twitter.
It attached a copy of the letter that was going viral on social media, stating, “The letter below is phony.”
On Friday, Melanie Robinson, the British ambassador to Zimbabwe, uploaded a photo of Emmerson Mnangagwa signing the embassy’s guest book. Additionally, Mr. Mnangagwa shared a picture of himself signing and smiling with the ambassador on his official Twitter account. The fake letter, which was allegedly sent on behalf of King Charles III, claimed that Mr. Mnangagwa was not invited to the queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey because of travel limitations the West had placed on him and other government officials, as well as because of human rights breaches.
One of the largest international gatherings of the century will take place on Monday at Westminster Abbey in London as Queen Elizabeth II is given a state burial.
