What are the different types of royal funeral?
A state funeral is generally limited to sovereigns but may, by order of the sovereign, and on the recommendation of parliament which votes on money to fund it, be extended to exceptionally distinguished persons. State funerals are the responsibility of the Earl Marshal to deliver, with the support of the College of Arms.
A royal ceremonial funeral is granted by the sovereign to members of the royal family who hold high military rank, consorts of the sovereign and those deemed appropriate. One was held for Diana, Princess of Wales. They are funded by the Queen and are the responsibility of the lord chamberlain, the senior officer of the royal household.
The differences between the two are not always clear. They hold much in common: a gun carriage to bear the coffin, the presence of military units in the funeral procession and a service attended by state representatives, both domestic and foreign. A state funeral usually involves a public lying in state, but Queen Victoria did not lie in state in a fully public way, whereas the Queen Mother — who had a royal ceremonial funeral — did.
The most obvious difference is that, since Queen Victoria, at a state funeral the gun carriage bearing the coffin is drawn by sailors from the Royal Navy rather than horses, although not even that is reliable: at Earl Mountbatten of Burma’s funeral in 1979 the gun carriage was drawn by naval ratings. This is because his father played a pivotal role in the creation of the tradition of using naval ratings: at the funeral of Queen Victoria, when the horses kicked their traces, it was Prince Louis of Battenberg who suggested using the naval guard of honour to drag the gun carriage.
One other difference, scarcely noticeable other than in its symbolic importance, involves the gun carriage. At a state funeral the state gun carriage, which was first used for the funeral of Queen Victoria, bears the coffin. It has been used for every monarch since Victoria, and also for Winston Churchill and Lord Mountbatten. For other members of the royal family a gun carriage belonging to the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery is used. These date from the First World War.
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In the end, apart from the question of who organises the funeral and, to an extent, who pays for it, perhaps the difference lies in the significance of the name. By calling it a state funeral, the state is signalling that in death it is bestowing on the person the highest honour at its disposal.
The third category is a private royal funeral, which is held for those of the rank of royal highness and, increasingly over the years, for those without rank but in the Queen’s family.
Who else did not have a public lying in state?
Queen Victoria did not want a public lying in state in London, much to the disappointment of Londoners who had hoped to be able to pay their respects at St Paul’s.
Instead when she died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight in 1901, a semi-private lying in state was arranged for three days to allow the Queen’s servants and friends to pay their respects.
Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister, also insisted that she did not want to lie in state, saying that it would not be appropriate.
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There was no lying in state for Diana, Princess of Wales, who was not an HRH when she died.
When did the tradition start of a public lying in state at Westminster for members of the royal family?
The first monarch to lie in state in Westminster Hall was Edward VII in 1910. This was his own idea: he had been so shocked by the lack of preparation for the funeral of his mother, Queen Victoria, that he insisted everything should be planned in advance in consultation with himself. That included the innovation of a lying in state in Westminster Hall — the first time this had happened for a sovereign — to give his subjects the opportunity to pay their last respects to their king. It proved to be hugely popular.
However, the tradition of monarchs and other distinguished people such as Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington lying in state goes back centuries. Before George III it was only the nobility and the gentry who were permitted to pay their last respects to their sovereign, but when George died anyone who was in respectable mourning was allowed to enter St George’s Hall at Windsor. Such was his popularity that over two days 30,000 people took the opportunity to file past.
There was even a lying in state for the Duke of Windsor, lasting two days in the nave of St George’s Chapel in 1972, despite his abdication in 1936 when he was Edward VIII.
Who else has lain in state?
Two prime ministers have been accorded the honour: William Gladstone in 1898 and Winston Churchill in 1965, whose coffin attracted hundreds of thousands of people. Westminster Hall was used for Gladstone rather than a religious building because of his long association with the Palace of Westminster. Until 1882 the hall had been used as law courts and would not have been available at short notice.
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In 1930 there was an unusual lying in state in Westminster Hall for the 48 victims of the R101 airship disaster. The experimental rigid British airship caught fire as it crossed northern France, killing all but six of the 54 people on board.
Will Prince Philip have a state funeral?
Prince Philip had said he did not want to lie in state or be given a state funeral. Although funeral plans have been in place for years, they will have to be modified because of coronavirus restrictions.
The duke is due to be interred at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, after a royal ceremonial funeral.
