A hearse is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a casket at a funeral, wake, or graveside service. They range from deliberately anonymous vehicles to heavily decorated vehicles.
The royal standard of the United Kingdom is the banner of arms of the monarch of the United Kingdom, currently Charles III. It consists of the monarch's coat of arms in flag form, and is made up of four quarters containing the arms of the former kingdoms of England, Ireland, and Scotland. There are two versions of the banner, one used in Scotland in which the Scottish quarters take precedence, and one used elsewhere in which the English quarters take precedence.
The Austin Princess is a series of large luxury cars that were made by Austin and its subsidiary Vanden Plas from 1947 to 1968. The cars were also marketed under the Princess and Vanden Plas marque names.
The Royal Mews is a mews, or collection of equestrian stables, of the British royal family. In London these stables and stable-hands' quarters have occupied two main sites in turn, being located at first on the north side of Charing Cross, and then within the grounds of Buckingham Palace.
The King's Colour Squadron, formerly the Queen's Colour Squadron, is the unit of the Royal Air Force charged with the safe-keeping of the King's Colour for the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. Since its formation, it has been formed exclusively by Officers and Gunners of No. 63 Squadron RAF Regiment.
The Bentley State Limousines are official state cars manufactured by Bentley as a gift for the late Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee in 2002. The two cars produced were in service for the Queen up until her death in 2022. They have most recently been in service for King Charles III. The Princess Royal used the car while accompanying the Queen's coffin. Both cars are kept in the Royal Mews.
The Scottish State Coach is an enclosed, four-horse-drawn carriage used by the British Royal Family.
The Daimler DS420, also known as the Daimler Limousine, is a limousine made by the Daimler Company between 1968 and 1992. The car was designed for official use and it was popular with chauffeur services, hoteliers and undertakers. It was used as an official state car in many countries. No other limousine model has been delivered to more reigning monarchs than the DS420, and the car is still used by the royal houses of the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, and Luxembourg.
A funeral train carries a coffin or coffins (caskets) to a place of interment by railway. Funeral trains today are often reserved for leaders, national heroes, or government officials, as part of a state funeral, but in the past were sometimes the chief means of transporting coffins and mourners to graveyards. Many modern era funeral trains are hauled by operationally restored steam locomotives, due to the more romantic image of the steam train against more modern diesel or electric locomotives, although non-steam powered funeral trains have been used.
An official state car is a automobile used by a government to transport its head of state or head of government in an official capacity, which may also be used occasionally to transport other members of the government or visiting dignitaries from other countries. A few countries bring their own official state car for state visits to other countries, for instance, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany and Japan. It also may serve as an automotive symbol of the head of state and their country. An official state car must have adequate security, capability and stateliness for its duty. A limousine or other high-end vehicle is usually selected.
The Australian State Coach is an enclosed, six horse-drawn coach used by the British Royal Family. Constructed in 1986-88, it was the first royal state coach to have been built since 1902. It was presented to Queen Elizabeth II of Australia and the United Kingdom in Canberra on 8 May 1988, as the official gift on the occasion of the Australian Bicentennial, and was first used in November of that year by the Queen at the State Opening of Parliament in the UK.
In the United Kingdom, state funerals are usually reserved for monarchs. The most recent was the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022.
Until 2023, British manufactured cars had always been used as prime ministerial cars by the prime ministers of the United Kingdom. The cars currently used are armoured, custom built Range Rover Sentinel supercharged 5.0 litre V8 models and armoured Audi A8L models.
On 30 March 2002 at 15:15 GMT, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, widow to King George VI and mother to Queen Elizabeth II, died at the age of 101 at Royal Lodge, Windsor. The death of the Queen Mother set in motion Operation Tay Bridge, a plan detailing procedures including the dissemination of information, national mourning, and her funeral. Representatives of nations and groups around the world sent condolences to the Queen, the British people, and citizens of the Commonwealth. Flowers and messages of condolence were left by the public at royal residences, with members of the royal family publicly paying tribute to the Queen Mother in the days after her death. Her funeral, held on 9 April 2002 at Westminster Abbey in London, attracted 10 million viewers in the United Kingdom and cost £5.4 million.
Operation London Bridge was the funeral plan for Queen Elizabeth II. The plan included the announcement of her death, the period of official mourning, and the details of her state funeral. The plan was created as early as the 1960s and revised many times in the years before her death in September 2022.
On 6 February 1952, George VI, King of the United Kingdom, died at the age of 56, at Sandringham House, after a prolonged cancer. His state funeral took place on 15 February 1952. A period of national mourning commenced and his elder daughter and successor, Queen Elizabeth II, was proclaimed the new monarch by the Accession Council. George VI's coffin lay in St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham until 11 February when it was carried, in procession, to the nearby Wolferton railway station. The coffin was carried by train to London King's Cross railway station where another formal procession carried it to Westminster Hall where the king lay in state for three days. Some 304,000 people passed through Westminster Hall with queues up to 4 miles (6.4 km) forming.
The state and royal cars of the United Kingdom are kept at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace, where a wide range of state road vehicles are kept and maintained. The vehicles also are stored at other royal residences as required.
Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, died on 8 September 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. Elizabeth's reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch. She was succeeded by her eldest son, Charles III.
Leverton & Sons Ltd is an independent family-run firm of funeral directors in Camden, London and the current funeral directors to the Royal Household. Established in 1789, the firm has been based in Camden for more than 200 years. Leverton & Sons arrange around 1,000 funerals a year and past funerals have included those of George Orwell, Kenneth Williams, Michael Foot, Margaret Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth II.
The Royal Navy State Funeral Gun Carriage is a converted Ordnance, BL, 12 pdr 6 cwt, MK II, gun carriage which has been used in the UK to bear the coffin at the funeral processions of: Queen Victoria; King Edward VII; King George V; King George VI; Sir Winston Churchill; Admiral of the Fleet The 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma; and Queen Elizabeth II. It is traditionally pulled by members of the Royal Navy; when not in use, it is kept at the shore establishment HMS Excellent. A smaller version, known as the Portsmouth Gun Carriage, has been used at the ceremonial funerals of several senior naval officers in the 20th century.
