President Alexander Stubb to attend Lindsey Graham’s funeral in Washington D.C.
President of the Republic Alexander Stubb will travel to the United States to attend the state funeral of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, the Office of the President of the Republic has confirmed. The service will take place at Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday, 28 July.
Graham, who passed away on 11 July at the age of 71 following a sudden illness, was a prominent U.S. politician and a long-time ally of former President Donald Trump. He was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 and later to the Senate in 2002, where he would have sought a fifth term in November’s elections (Ilta-Sanomat).
Stubb and Graham shared a close personal relationship, with the Finnish president describing the late senator as "a personal friend, a supporter of NATO and Ukraine, a transatlanticist, and a friend of Finland" in a post on X (formerly Twitter) following Graham’s death. The post included a photo from a joint golf outing in South Carolina last October, where Stubb had also visited Graham (MTV Uutiset).
Graham played a key role in facilitating what became known as "golf diplomacy" between Stubb and Trump. According to The Wall Street Journal, Graham suggested the idea of a golf meeting after encountering Stubb in Munich in February. The informal meeting took place in March 2025 at a golf course, with Graham later praising Stubb’s performance on social media, calling him "amazing" (Yle).
Both Stubb and Graham had ties to South Carolina, where the senator was from and where Stubb studied at Furman University (Ilta-Sanomat). Their friendship extended beyond politics, with Graham frequently advocating for strong U.S.-Finland relations, particularly in the context of NATO and transatlantic security.