The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II was made over 30 years ago, by the same company that crafted the coffin for her husband, Prince Philip.
The coffins for members of the British Royal Family are typically made from oak sourced from Sandringham Estate, but specific details regarding the construction of the late Queen’s coffin seem to have been lost over the decades since it was ordered.
The coffin for Queen Elizabeth was made 30 years ago
The Queen’s coffin was crafted at Henry Smith, a company that has been closed since 2005. This company also made the coffin for Prince Philip, along with many celebrities such as Diana Dors, Freddie Mercury, and Jimi Hendrix.
The brass handles and other accessories, including hooks to secure the crown, orb, and scepter placed inside the coffin, are said to have been made by the Newman Brothers foundry, which is also no longer in operation.
Until the 1990s, the coffin was stored at the JH Kenyon funeral home in London. This company handled the funerals for King George VI in 1952 and Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1965.
When another company, Leverton and Sons, took over the responsibility for royal funerals in 1991, the Queen’s coffin was transferred to them. As a result, Leverton and Sons have little information about when and how the Queen’s coffin was made.
Andrew Leverton, the company’s operator, stated in an interview with The Times in 2018: “It is made of English oak, so it is very sturdy. Oak coffins nowadays are made from American oak. I don’t think we can use English oak for coffins anymore, as it is too expensive.”
The coffin is lined with lead because the Queen’s body will be placed in the King George VI Memorial Chapel rather than buried in the ground as is customary. This coffin is so heavy that it requires eight people to carry it, instead of the usual six.
Henry Smith crafted the coffin using a method known as lead-lined within wood, meaning the inner coffin is made of wood, lined with lead, and then placed inside another wooden shell.
When Henry Smith ceased operations in 2005, the company was taken over by T Cribb & Sons. However, the order book was not retained, so the exact date of the coffin’s construction remains unknown, according to a company spokesperson.
The coffin was preserved for so long that the brass handles had to be replaced after the new company took over.
The funeral of Queen Elizabeth II is the most prestigious funeral that Leverton and Sons has managed. However, this company, established in 1789, has also organized funerals for Queen Elizabeth I, Princess Diana, Princess Margaret, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, renowned novelist George Orwell, Labour Party leader Michael Foot, and actor Peter O’Toole.
Leverton told The Times that the funeral of “The Iron Lady” Thatcher was the most pressure-inducing for them, as it was under the supervision of the Lord Chamberlain and the pallbearers were members of the armed forces.
