Royal funerals through the ages from a loyal dog to a spooked horse and a broken crown
ok.co.ukAs the nation continues to mourn for The Queen following her death last week, many of us will now be turning out attention towards the funeral, which will be incomparable in scale and grandeur to any funeral we have seen before.
While many of us will have seen state funerals in the past, such as after the death of the Queen Mother in 2002 and Princess Diana in 1997, far fewer people will recall the death of the previous Sovereign, King George VI’s funeral which was held in 1952.
While the procession itself was televised, the funeral service was not, meaning that the Queen’s upcoming service, which will be televised for the very first time, marks a significant moment in history as the nation gathers to say a solemn final farewell to its longest reigning monarch.The decision to televise the service is just one example of the modernisation of the royal family’s funeral customs over the years, as throughout the centuries, customs and rituals have been upheld and honoured at the funerals of Kings and Queens, but very rarely changed.
Here are some of traditions, and some of the more unusual incidents and mishaps, which have shaped the end of historic royal eras.
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