A full military rehearsal for the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral offered a first glimpse of the specially modified Land Rover he helped to design, which will bear his coffin to St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on Saturday.
The duke’s project, which spanned 16 years, resulted in the custom-built Land Rover Defender TD5 130, which he requested be painted in military green. It is equipped with an open-top rear and special rubber grip “stops” to secure his coffin.
He made the final adjustments in 2019, when he was 98. The Defender was made in Land Rover’s factory in Solihull in 2003, with Philip overseeing modifications throughout the intervening years. Land Rover has maintained the vehicle since it was built.
Thierry Bolloré, Jaguar Land Rover’s chief executive, said: “The duke was a tremendous champion for design, engineering and technology. During his visits to our sites he engaged with hundreds of employees and demonstrated his impressive knowledge and deep interest in vehicle design, engineering and manufacturing.”
Philip also personally selected the regalia that will be on the altar for his funeral. His chosen insignia, the medals and decorations conferred on him by the UK and Commonwealth countries, together with his Royal Air Force wings and field marshal’s baton, will be positioned on nine cushions on the altar in the chapel. The duke also included insignia from Denmark and Greece – Order of the Elephant and Order of the Redeemer respectively – in a nod to his heritage as a prince of Greece and Denmark.
Stephen Segrave, secretary of the central chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, said: “There will be nine cushions with insignia pre-positioned around the altar at St George’s Chapel in Windsor. They represent British and Commonwealth orders and decorations, and the final cushion with orders from Greece and Denmark, for obvious reasons. The Duke of Edinburgh had, I think, 61 decorations and awards from 53 different other countries, and there simply wasn’t the space to have them all on display at the funeral.”
The regalia was sewn on to the cushions at St James’s Palace earlier this week. Among the chosen pieces are the Order of the Garter, which consists of a collar made of 22-carat gold, a badge with Saint George slaying the dragon, known as the greater George, a sash with a badge called the lesser George, a breast star, with the motto of the order, “Honi soit qui mal y pense”, which translates as “shame on anyone who thinks evil of it”, and the garter itself.
One particular cushion has the field marshal’s baton next to Philip’s RAF wings.
