Here Is the Land Rover Defender Prince Philip Helped Design for His Own Funeral

Last weekend, Buckingham Palace confirmed reports that the Duke’s body would not be transported across the Castle grounds, to the chapel, in a horse-drawn gun carriage, as is tradition with the Royal Family. Instead, the Palace said, he will make the final journey on a Land Rover he had helped designed.

Initial reports claimed that the Land Rover in question was the Defender 130 Gun Bus that was commissioned in 2005. The Duke received a similar conversion in 2016 for private use on one of us his estates, so clearly the vehicle was one he was fond of. Be that as it may, it’s not the one that will be used in the procession.

The Palace has revealed the funeral vehicle, Sky News reports. It is a modified Land Rover Defender TD5 130 chassis cab vehicle that’s been in the works for 16 years and that the Duke himself helped create, as his own funeral vehicle. He first approached Land Rover with the idea in 2003, when he turned 82.

Built at Solihull, the vehicle’s development along the years was directly overseen by the Duke. Personal touches include the open top rear, and the rubber and metal stoppers on it, and a color change from Belize green to Dark Bronze Green, which gives it a decidedly more military look.

Thierry Bollore, Jaguar Land Rover chief executive, tells the media that JLR was “deeply privileged to have enjoyed a very long and happy association with the Duke of Edinburgh over many decades.” The Land Rover hearse is regarded as correct reflection of the “Duke’s practical nature, and his passion for functional design and engineering.”

In addition to the main vehicle, two backup Land Rovers have been built for the occasion.