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Ten 'everyday' Australians invited to attend Queen's funeral

Ten additional invites to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II have been allocated for a group of "everyday Australians".

Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott is among the 10 Australians who will travel to London for the official funeral service on Monday, alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Governor-General David Hurley.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Buckingham Palace requested 10 "everyday" citizens who had made meaningful contributions to their communities to be invited.

Celebrated horse trainer Chris Waller – best known for training four-time winner of Australian Horse of the Year, Winx – is among them.

READ MORE: Day-by-day guide from now until the Queen's funeral

Trainer Chris Waller with Winx.

"We would like to think that Her Majesty would be particularly pleased that Chris Waller has been chosen," Albanese said.

He also trained Her Majesty's gelding Chalk Stream.

Danny Abdallah has also been invited. The Sydney father lost his three children Sienna, 8, Angelina, 12, and Antony, 13, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11, in a horror crash while they were getting ice cream in 2020.

He and his wife Leila forgave the drug and alcohol affected driver, and founded i4give Day to help others who have suffered in a similar way.

Retired police officer Kim Smith joined the Rotary Club and has made a name for himself through his volunteer work.

READ MORE: What we know about plans for the Queen's funeral

"Kim oversaw the formation and management of Reclink, which organises sporting activities for street youth becoming clean, as well as the Young Women's program, mentoring teenage girls who were survivors of abuse and neglect," a statement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.

Aboriginal elder Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann AM has also been honoured with an invite.

The renowned artist, activist, writer and public speaker was the Northern Territory's first fully qualified indigenous teacher.

She later became the principal of the Catholic school in her home community before being appointed to the government's National Indigenous Council.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Australia's National Day of Mourning

The Nauiyu Nambiyu woman was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia medal in 1998 for service to the community and named Senior Australian of the year in 2021.

Everyday invites also include refugee and multiculturalism advocate Saba Abraham.

She was integral in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in Queensland, gathering leaders from culturally and linguistically diverse communities to ensure public health messages were translated in a timely manner.

Founder of Sober in the Country Shanna Whan who shared her harrowing journey to sobriety will also attend.

2022 Australia's Local Hero is Shanna Whan.

"She is creating radical social impact and change around how we discuss and use alcohol in rural Australia," the PMO said.

Young South Australian of the Year Dr Trudy Lin has been extended an invite to the historic event.

"As the youngest of only 20 practising specialists in Australia's Special Needs Dentistry sector, Dr Trudy Lin provides oral healthcare to people with disability, psychiatric illness, and complex medical issues such as cancer," the PMO said.

"She also treats people experiencing homelessness and domestic violence."

Senior Australian of the year Valmai Dempsey, better known as Val, is one of the ACT's most committed and longest-serving volunteers.

"In 2020, Val faced her biggest challenge yet as a St John Ambulance volunteer – first with the 'Black Summer' bushfires, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic," the PMO said.

"In response, she led 40 fellow volunteers as they supported fire-affected communities during the emergency that stretched over many weeks."

She met the Queen virtually alongside Alcott earlier this year.

Alcott made the Queen laugh in a video call in June, when he made a joke about his Wimbledon success.

READ MORE: Dylan Alcott makes Queen laugh in sweet video call

The Queen speaks to Australian of the Year Award recipient Dylan Alcott

"Unfortunately, won a couple of Wimbledon titles, beat some Great Britain players, which I was happy about but maybe you weren't so happy about."

Alcott then told the monarch the reason he gets out of bed every day "is to change perceptions" so people living with disabilities can "get out and live the lives they deserve to live".

"Dylan is a world class athlete who over his esteemed career has won multiple Paralympic gold medals in two sports, tennis grand slams and in 2016 became the first athlete with a disability to win Tennis Australia's highest individual honour, the Newcombe Medal."

In 2009, Dylan was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

The final "everyday Aussie" invited to the Queen's funeral is Western Australia's 2021 Australian of the Year Professor Helen Milroy.

READ MORE: Strict rules in place for saying farewell to the Queen

Queen Elizabeth II's coffin will travel from Balmoral to London ahead of her funeral on September 19.

Milroy was Australia's first indigenous doctor and has been a "pioneer" in researching and training in the field of Aboriginal and child mental health. 

"Helen has played a key role on numerous mental health advisory committees and boards, including the National Mental Health Commission and was appointed as commissioner for the Australian Government's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse from 2013-2017."

Returned Services League (RSL) president Greg Melick will attend to represent one of the Queen's longstanding patronages.

Australia's Acting High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Lynette Wood was the first Australian to have met with King Charles III since his accession.

She will also attend the funeral with Albanese and Hurley's partners.

"I was able to convey personally to their Majesties the condolences of the government and people of Australia," she said. 

READ MORE: Tears as royals emerge from Balmoral after Queen's death

The coffin will move south and eventually lie in Westminster Hall before a procession to Westminster Abbey for the state funeral, which is expected to start on Monday around 10:50am (7:50pm AEST).

Queen Elizabeth's coffin has left her Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands and been taken to Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, before a procession to St Giles' Cathedral where her hearse was escorted by her four children.

Coins featuring the Queen jump in price

Coin dealers across Australia are facing a surge in demand for coins printed with the face of Queen Elizabeth II and collectors are willing to splash the cash.

The monarch's face has featured on Australian currency since 1953 when she first appeared on a range of the former imperial coins and continued on them when the country adopted decimal currency.

Steve Meharry, owner of Philatelics Australia in Adelaide, said since the Queen's death last week, collectors were especially interested in coins released to commemorate significant milestones during her 70-year reign.

LIVE UPDATES: Queen lays in rest in Scotland for 24 hours

"There has been strong demand for the $2 coronation anniversary coin released in 2013," he told 9News.

"Ones that have been in circulation now fetch between $75 and $125 compared with about $50 before her death. And those coins that didn't reach circulation are worth up to $150 today."

Another popular coin has been the Royal Australian Mint's Platinum Jubilee coin, released earlier this year, which jumped in price to more $100 following the news of the Queen's death.

READ MORE: Ten 'everyday' Australians invited to attend Queen's funeral

The tiny dots on this coin are a secret message that needs to be decoded.

Meharry said there had been a 40 per cent to 50 per cent increase in prices for in-demand coins featuring the Queen's head.

He said the demand for stamps bearing the head of Queen Elizabeth II was difficult to gauge.

Like coin enthusiasts, stamp collectors were more likely to be interested in commemorative items from her reign such as the 1977 Silver Jubilee. 

READ MORE: King Charles coins confirmed for 2023

Melbourne coin dealer Sam Seigel said his store, Max Stern and Co, had been inundated with inquiries from collectors over the past days.

But he cautioned people looking to make a quick profit by emptying their biscuit tins of old coins.

"The more commonly found ones from the 1950s and 1960s are quite cheap, fetching just a few dollars."

The federal government announced today that coins bearing the head of King Charles III will enter circulation in Australia "sometime in 2023".

Assistant Minister for Treasury Andrew Leigh said more than 50 billion coins with Queen Elizabeth II's effigy had been minted since Australia's decimal currency switch in 1966.

He also reassured Australians the coins featuring the Queen's effigy would remain legal tender.

READ MORE: What we know about plans for the Queen's funeral



First monkeypox death reported in US

Monkeypox has killed its first person in the US.

The Californian resident had a severely weakened immune system and had been hospitalised, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health said today.

No further information about the fatality will be made public, the department said.

READ MORE: Day-by-day guide from now until the Queen's funeral

The monkeypox virus is seen through a micropscope.

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"Persons severely immunocompromised who suspect they have monkeypox are encouraged to seek medical care and treatment early and remain under the care of a provider during their illness," the statement said.

Deaths from monkeypox are extremely rare and often affect babies, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, such as from HIV.

A person in Texas, who had monkeypox died last month, but the virus' role in that death has not been confirmed.

There have been almost 22,000 cases of probable or confirmed monkeypox reported in the US this year, according to national data.

California has the most cases: 4300.

There are 129 known cases of the virus in Australia.

With 67, Victoria has the most cases, followed by 50 in New South Wales.

There are just a smattering of cases in Western Australia, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia.

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People wait in line to receeve the Monkeypox vaccine in Brooklyn.

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Globally in this outbreak, there have been almost 58,000 cases and 18 confirmed deaths, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Trends in monkeypox cases appear to be levelling off, officials have said, but that shouldn't lead to complacency.

"We're continuing to see a downward trend in Europe," World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week.

"While reported cases from the Americas also declined last week, it's harder to draw firm conclusions about the epidemic in that region.

"Some countries in the Americas continue to report increasing number of cases and in some there is likely to be underreporting due to stigma and discrimination or a lack of information for those who need it most.

He warned a downward trend "can be the most dangerous time" if it opens the door to complacency.

EXPLAINED: Can the spread of monkeypox be stopped?

With CNN