News 17 April 2021
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Prince Philip designed a custom Land Rover hearse for his funeral

17 April 2021
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Prince Philip will be laid to rest at his funeral today and before his passing, the Duke designed his own custom build Land Rover hearse.

The project took 16 years and includes several modifications such as a specific military green paint job, an open top and special modifiers which will keep his coffin in place.

Prince Philip reportedly made suggestions and oversaw the project until its completion in 2019.

The Land Rover Defender TD5 130 chassis cab has been unveiled before the funeral and the vehicle was designed at Land Rover’s Solihull factory.

On the design, Thierry Bollore, the chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover said the company was, “deeply privileged to have enjoyed a very long and happy association with the Duke of Edinburgh over many decades.”

The funeral today will be led by the Dean of Windsor and the Archbishop of Canterbury is set to pronounce the blessing.

Due to event restrictions in place because of the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, only 30 people are allowed to attend the funeral.

Guests include Prince William., Prince Harry, Prince Charles and The Queen.

Meghan Markle was forbidden by doctors to fly to London for the funeral due to being in the late trimesters of her pregnancy.

Despite the smaller scale of the send-off, it has been said that funeral is exactly in keeping with the Duke of Edinburgh’s wishes.

Following backlash for their coverage of Prince Philip’s death last week, the BBC has confirmed that they will not be offering wall-to-wall coverage of the funeral and the subsequent mourning period this weekend.

The BBC set up a specific complaints form for Prince Philip related messages.

BBC One saw a six per cent decline in their viewership and BBC Two went down by 65 per cent.

The total number of complaints received by the BBC was 109,741.

The country will follow a minute’s silence at 3pm during the funeral today and will subsequently fall in to a period of national mourning.