A furious Liberal frontbencher has unleashed amid revelations Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith copped a “royal snub” ahead of the Queen’s funeral.

Australian consulate staff who questioned Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith attending the Queen’s funeral should be “sacked” according to Liberal frontbencher Phillip Thompson.

The Queensland MP and shadow assistant defence minister, who was deployed to Afghanistan in May 2009, made the comments today on a private Instagram account after reports that senior officials at Australia’s High Commission in London were deeply concerned and unhappy about Ben Roberts-Smith attending.

Sources close to those making the arrangements reportedly said they did not expect the Victoria Cross recipient to accept the invitation.

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Writing today on a private Instagram page dedicated to supporting Mr Roberts-Smith, the Liberal MP said the whole affair was a disgrace.

“All Victoria Cross recipients have been personally invited at the request of Her Majesty,” he said.

“They all should have flown on (Anthony Albanese‘s) plane. A fundamental pillar of democracy is presumption of innocence.

“That hasn’t occurred for Ben or any of our soldiers, it’s been trial and conviction by the media. It’s disgusting.

“The consulate staff who made that comment about Ben attending should be sacked.”

The Victoria Cross recipient, who was accused in a federal court defamation battle of “the most heinous acts of criminality” in Afghanistan, arrived in London today for the funeral after flying with Qatar Airways from Brisbane.

Meanwhile, horse trainer Gai Waterhouse, Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott and several leaders of Pacific Commonwealth nominations joined Mr Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon on his private jet.

The Royal Australian Air Force flight took off from Sydney late on Thursday night and touched down today.

The UK Government had asked world leaders to arrive by commercial aircraft where possible.

However the Australian Government said it would not be following that directive using RAAF aircraft instead.

“They’re long standing plans for myself and the Governor-General to travel to London and we’ll be doing so on Thursday night,” Mr Albanese told the ABC.

Mr Roberts-Smith denies the allegations of war crimes raised in the defamation battle and has never been charged with a crime.

The Instagram account @10_year_dig_v3 kicked off the debate by attacking the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for not inviting Mr Roberts-Smith on his private plane.

“Imagine being the Prime Minister and thinking your wishes are above that of the queen, choosing to invite a bunch of randoms over the most decorated soldier in Australia. It takes a fair bit to disgust us but that‘s up there.”

Mr Thomson then jumped into the comments to demand any consular officials who briefed journalists that the Victoria Cross recipient wasn’t welcome should be fired.

“They cowardly hide behind ‘consulate official’ in the paper and don’t have the fortitude to put their names to the comment,’’ he wrote. “It’s clear they don’t believe in the rule of law and presumption of innocence therefore should not be representing Australia at the High Commission. ”

The Liberal MP then tagged @alboMP on Instagram urging him to “investigate and remove them as they do not uphold Australian values.”

Mr Roberts-Smith confirmed this week that he was invited to the funeral as a recipient of the Victoria Cross.

“I feel deeply saddened by Her Majesty’s passing, I had an immense respect for her and she was someone I admired greatly,” Mr Roberts-Smith said in a statement to NCA NewsWire on Tuesday.

“In every interaction I had with the Queen she was warm, insightful and engaging. She was a magnificent monarch, a stoic leader, and importantly just a lovely lady.

“I feel extremely honoured to be fortunate enough to pay my respects to the Queen and humbled that she saw fit to include the Victoria Cross recipients in her funeral procession.”

His defamation case wound up in July after more than 100 days of evidence and an estimated combined $25 million in legal fees for both sides.

Nine newspapers are seeking to rely on a defence of truth and allege Roberts-Smith was involved in six unlawful killings, including the execution of a man at Darwan in southern Afghanistan.

His legal team asserted that Nine’s defence “has more holes than Swiss cheese” and that his former soldiers had been used as “pawns” in murder allegations.

Mr Roberts-Smith received the Victoria Cross for Australia for his efforts during an operation in Afghanistan in June 2010, after storming machine gun nests that pinned down his SAS patrol.

In 2011, Mr Roberts-Smith said that the “lovely” Queen Elizabeth II had shown interest in what happened on the day his patrol was targeted.

“We talked mainly about Afghanistan and obviously a great opportunity for me to tell her about what everyone else in my (patrol) did that day, so I got to explain to her a bit of what everyone did as opposed to just myself,” he told reporters.

One of Nine’s central allegations is that Mr Roberts-Smith was involved in two executions within minutes during a raid on a Taliban compound on Easter Sunday, 2009.

The newspapers claim Mr Roberts-Smith instructed a junior soldier, known as Person 4, to borrow a rifle suppressor off another SAS soldier to shoot the elderly Afghan in the head inside the compound.

The newspapers, and some SAS witnesses, further claim Mr Roberts-Smith executed the Afghan with a fake leg by dragging him outside Whiskey 108 and machine gunning him with a Minimi weapon.

Afghanistan war veteran Mark Donaldson is expected to represent Australian Victoria Cross and George Cross winners in the procession.

Winners of the Victoria Cross are invited to the funeral commemorations by Buckingham Palace as a matter of protocol.

The PM is due to speak in London where he will talk about an iconic photo of Queen Elizabeth II and a well-known Australian.

Anthony Albanese has revealed what he will say to King Charles III after the Prime Minister landed in London overnight.

Australia has responded to the recent in-person meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.