State funerals in the United Kingdom
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In the United Kingdom, state funerals are usually reserved for monarchs. The most recent was the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022.[1]
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A state funeral may also be held to honour a highly distinguished figure following the approval of the monarch and Parliament (of the expenditure of public funds).[2] The last non-royal state funeral in the United Kingdom was that of Sir Winston Churchill on 30 January 1965.[3]
Other funerals, including those of senior members of the British royal family and high-ranking public figures may share many of the characteristics of a state funeral without being categorised as such; for these, the term 'ceremonial funeral' is used. In the last fifty years, ceremonial funerals have been held for Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1979); Diana, Princess of Wales (1997); Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (2002); Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (2013);[2] , and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (2021). Ceremonial funerals have tended in general to follow the ritual patterns of a state funeral (if on a somewhat smaller scale).
A gun carriage is used to transport the coffin between locations since Queen Victoria's funeral (1901), it is also accompanied by a procession of military bands and detachments along with mourners and other officials. There may also be a lying in state and other associated ceremonies.[4]