A funeral director whose family firm helped organise the funerals of Queen Victoria and Edward VII has offered an insight on what we might expect from the Queen’s service on Monday.
When Queen Victoria died in 1901, William Banting funeral directors held the warrant as the undertaker to the royal household.
However, they called upon another London firm, JD Field & Son, to help with the arrangements for the funeral, which was a full military affair.
Jeremy Field, managing director of the 10th generation family business, still has a copy of the final account issued to the royal household by Bantings after Victoria’s funeral.
It gives an indication of what we might expect from Queen Elizabeth II’s service on Monday, which will be the first state funeral held in the UK since that of former prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill, in 1965.
Speaking to The Independent, Mr Field, who runs what is now CPJ Field with his two siblings, said: “I’ve got a copy of the full funeral account which details everything from sourcing the drapes to hang from the lamp posts on The Mall.
“They originally sourced it in black and, of course, Queen Victoria famously did not want black, having been in mourning for a significant part of her life, so it was then replaced by a purple velvet.
“Three miles, I think, was the length of fabric they were sorting out. All these things are detailed.”
Mr Field, whose family firm also arranged the funerals of the Duke of Wellington in 1852 and King Edward VII in 1910, said some aspects would already be set out – such as hymns and prayers – but said he was interested to see how it might be personalised.
“I’m fascinated to see what’s going to happen,” he said. “It’s a state funeral, so there are certain things about it that we know, but a lot of that is drawn from Queen Victoria.
“It’s worth pointing out that, when Queen Victoria died, she had been on the throne for 64 years, so her funeral was quite formative from a state funeral point of view.
“There are aspects of personalisation like any family; we can see Queen Victoria’s funeral, like her uncles before her, was at Windsor, not Westminster Abbey.
“I think you can see the input of the Queen [Elizabeth] trying to return the funeral to the public eye – although the most private bit right at the end will be out of the public eye at St George’s Chapel.”
The day of the Queen’s funeral will begin with her coffin being carried from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey on the state gun carriage of the Royal Navy.
The gun carriage was last seen in 1979 for the funeral of Prince Philip’s uncle, Lord Mountbatten, drawn by 142 sailors from the navy. It is a tradition that links back to Queen Victoria’s funeral, according to Mr Field.
“The reason that tradition exists is as my forebears got close to St George’s Chapel with Queen Victoria’s coffin on the gun carriage, the horses that were pulling the gun carriage got spooked, possibly by the crowds, and broke their traces,” he said.
“The sailors from the Royal Navy that were part of the parade stepped forward, picked up the traces and pulled the gun carriage the rest of the way and that is now baked in as a formal aspect of what makes a state funeral – thanks to those horses.”
Mr Field said he expects that there will be a “number of layers” to the Queen’s funeral.
“There’s obviously the public interest, there’s definitely the ceremonial. This is something we see in every funeral that we look after,” he said.
“But we are also seeing the new king do some things about accessibility to the monarchy, so whilst they have to follow certain protocols set out by the state funeral, will we see something personally from the family?
“[Princess] Diana’s funeral was a ceremonial one, not a state one, but we weren’t necessarily expecting Elton John to appear.
“So whilst the hymns and readings are set out, [and] who will participate is set out, it will be interesting to see whether or not there will be just a few points that really reflect the relationship they have with the public but also the love they have for someone who right at the heart of it all is a grandmother, a great-grandmother, a mother and that really human aspect to the funeral which they have in common with every family that’s living through a bereavement at the moment.”
The Queen’s funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey at 11am on Monday following a procession starting at Westminster Hall.
It is likely to be one of the biggest single events staged in Britain since the Second World War and will conclude with a service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor, followed by a private burial that will see the Queen laid to rest with her late husband Prince Philip.
