Queen Elizabeth Designed Her Own Hearse With the Help of Jaguar Land Rover

Bryan Hood
·2 min read
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Queen Elizabeth II left nothing to chance when it came to her funeral.

The state hearse carrying Britain’s longest-serving monarch’s coffin was designed by The Royal Household and Jaguar Land Rover, according to Harper’s Bazaar. The queen had ultimate say over the vehicle—just as she did with all her funeral arrangements—consulting on the planning process and approving the final model before her death last week at the age of 96.

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The vehicle was on full display on Wednesday as it moved the queen’s coffin from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall in London, where it will remain for four days so that mourners to pay their respects. The customized hearse is a Jaguar and is finished in Royal Claret, just like all the state vehicles kept at the palace’s Royal Mews that are used by the royal family on official duties. It also features the queen’s royal cypher and has large windows in the rear to ensure that members of the public are able to see her coffin on its travels.

Queen Elizabeth II's state hearse in London
Queen Elizabeth II’s hearse in London on Wednesday night

Because she died at her Balmoral Castle estate in Scotland, the Jaguar wasn’t the first vehicle to carry the queen’s coffin and it won’t be the last. It was initially carried by a Mercedes-Benz limousine provided by local funeral director William Purves. Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday that her coffin will be taken from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey for a state service on Monday conducted by the Dean of Westminster. The coffin will then be taken to St George’s Chapel at Windsor for a more private service attended solely by the royal family, after which the queen will be laid to rest in the King George VI memorial chapel alongside her late husband, Prince Philip.

Like Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip also helped design the vehicle that would go on to carry his coffin. The queen’s husband went for something decidedly less conventional, though. The Duke of Edinburgh, who was an avid sportsman, wanted his coffin to be carried in a heavily customized Land Rover Defender 130 Gun Bus following his death last spring at the age of 99.

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