Queen Elizabeth II Was Apparently Involved In Designing Her Jaguar Hearse
As Queen Elizabeth II makes her last journey through Scotland and London, thousands have gathered on the streets to see her coffin making its rounds by hearse.
The state vehicle was designed by the Royal House and Jaguar, and, incidentally, the Queen as well, as reported by Harper’s Bazaar. Though it should not come as so much of a surprise that most things under her reign are run by her, it is a morbid thought to think that someone had to plan their own funeral.
Thousands of people have gathered outside Buckingham Palace to watch the arrival of the hearse carrying the late Queen's coffin.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 13, 2022
It entered through the front gates of the palace to immense cheers from onlookers.https://t.co/8AFWhoW82a
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/Hoe1q1i6Zf
In fact, the design for the hearse was approved just a week before her death on September 8, where it was to be made in the color Royal Claret. This particular shade of black is in uniform with all the other royal vehicles that are kept in the Royal Mews of Buckingham Palace.
The hearse carries the Queen’s royal cypher and features large glass windows in the back so that her subjects can see her one last time.
As the Queen passed away in Balmoral Castle in Scotland instead of her home of Buckingham Palace, the Jaguar was not the first hearse to carry her. Instead, a Mercedes-Benz limousine provided by a funeral house took the monarch from the castle down to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and thereafter to St. Giles Cathedral, where a mass and the Vigil of the Princes were held for her by her children.
Crowds line Edinburgh’s Royal Mile as the Queen’s children follow her coffin towards St Giles’ Cathedralhttps://t.co/HZS7Wh3MV1 pic.twitter.com/kPfLWsrWdQ
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) September 12, 2022
Her coffin made it back to London on September 13, where the Jaguar had finally retrieved her from the Royal Air Force plane. The hearse made its way through London back to Buckingham Palace and then over to Westminster Hall, in time for her funeral on September 19. Her Majesty the Queen will be laid to rest next to her late husband Prince Philip in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
The late Prince had also designed his own hearse and had taken an unconventional route of using a Land Rover Defender 130 Gun Bus to transport his coffin as he had a strong passion for Land Rovers during his life.
[via Robb Report and Car and Driver, Photo 14432948 © Speedfighter17 | Dreamstime.com]
