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Details of the Queen's coffin:

Jimie 2022. 9. 13. 05:22

Details of the Queen's coffin: Royal funeral director reveals it is made from rare English oak, lined with lead - and has been ready for more than 30 years

By STEPHANIE LINNING FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 04:30 AEST, 13 September 2022 | UPDATED: 04:30 AEST, 13 September 2022

 

The Queen's coffin, which tonight lies in state in Edinburgh, has been ready for more than 30 years, the royal funeral director revealed.

Andrew Leverton runs Leverton & Sons, the independent family firm of undertakers from Camden, north London, which has worked on royal funerals since 1991.

In an interview with The Times, he explained his company had inherited the coffin that had been made for the Queen by the previous royal funeral directors.

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The Queen's coffin, which tonight lies in state in Edinburgh, has been ready for more than 30 years, the royal undertaker revealed. Pictured, the Queen's coffin arrives at St Giles's Cathedral

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The Queen, pictured in Balmoral days before her death, will be honoured at a state funeral on Monday 19

Speaking in 2018, he said: 'It is made from English oak, which is very difficult to get hold of. Oak coffins are now made from American oak. I don't think we could use English oak for a coffin now. It would be too expensive.'

As per royal tradition, it is lined with lead, which helps preserve the body for longer.

Mr Leverton explained the coffin has been ready for decades because it is 'not something you can just make in a day'.

 

'There are fitments on the coffin lid which allow the instruments of state to be fitted,' he added.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey at 11am on Monday, September 19.

It will be the first funeral service at the Abbey - which was the background to much of the Queen's astonishing life, from her marriage to her beloved Duke of Edinburgh to the Coronation - for a British monarch since that of King George II in 1760.

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Left to right: Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward, Prince Andrew, King Charles III, Camilla, Queen Consort, The Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence sat alongside the Queen's coffin at St Giles' Cathedral

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As God Save the King was sung in the church, Charles looked mournfully at his mother's coffin

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The Queen had herself held the crown in the same church - St Giles' Kirk - just after her coronation

The funerals of kings and queens have been at St George's Chapel in Windsor since the reign of George III.

However, in a break with convention, Her Majesty - who died at Balmoral on Thursday aged 96 following many months of concern over her health - decided her funeral should be in the much bigger setting of Westminster Abbey.

Scotland Yard has now been tasked with organising the most significant security arrangement in British history for the funeral.

Her coffin, which is now lying in state in St Giles's Cathedral, will be flown to London on Tuesday, acccompanied by the Princess Royal, before being driven to Buckingham Palace.

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King Charles III during a Service of Prayer and Reflection for the Life of Queen Elizabeth II at St Giles' Cathedral

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(left to right) The Countess of Wessex, the Earl of Wessex, the Duke of York, King Charles III, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence during a Service of Prayer and Reflection for the Life of Queen Elizabeth II at St Giles' Cathedral

The Queen's lying in state will begin in Westminster Hall in London on Wednesday afternoon.

Then on Monday, the coffin will be moved from the Houses of Parliament that morning on the state gun carriage and transported to the neighbouring Abbey.

King Charles III and other senior members of the Royal Family, as well as the military, will follow the coffin while hundreds of thousands of mourners line the streets to pay their final respects to the late monarch.

Around 2,000 guests including Prime Minister Liz Truss and US President Joe Biden will then attend the hour-long televised service in the Abbey, which is expected to be one of the most watched live events in history - before the coffin is solemnly carried to Wellington Arch at 1pm via Whitehall, The Mall and past Buckingham Palace.

The coffin will then be carried to Windsor, before the Queen is buried at St George's Chapel next to her husband Prince Philip.

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The Queen's coffin arrives at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh

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Details of the Queen's coffin