The King and Queen Consort will travel to the Coronation in a Northern Beaches built carriage hand-crafted with priceless artifacts that tell the story of Great Britain and the Commonwealth.
Designed and created by Royal Carriage Maker and Manly resident Jim Frecklington, the Diamond Jubilee State Coach was chosen by the Monarch and will be drawn by six Windsor Grey horses on a two-kilometre journey from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey on Saturday (today), 6 May 2023.
It is one of two carriages crafted by the 73-year-old former member of the Royal Household and close friend of the late Queen.
First used in 2014, the three-tonne, 18-foot-long coach boasts hydraulic suspension, a heating system, lighting, electric windows and air conditioning.
“When I build coaches, it takes time – years,” Mr Frecklington told Mosman Collective.
Made with more than 100 priceless treasures, the Master craftsman said he wanted to create a “time capsule” of British history inside the gilded coach.
The Royal coach is the second to be built by Jim Frecklington, who worked for the Queen in the 1970’s, forming a friendship with the Monarch.
Pieces of Henry VIII’s warship, the Mary Rose, a muscat ball from the Battle of Waterloo and fragments from Sir Issac Newton’s apple tree are some of the many artefacts incorporated into the bodywork of the carriage.
“The crown on the roof I built using timber from Lord Nelson’s ship, ‘Victory’, and timber from the Tower of London has been inlaid within the structure,” Mr Frecklington said.
“There is timber from Westminster Abbey from 960 AD, as well as from many of the great cathedrals Salisbury, Durham, and Canterbury.”
The Diamond Jubilee Coach will transport King Charles and Camilla to Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6 May.
The handrails are made from timber decking, which once belonged to the Royal Yacht Britannia. In contrast, the door handles – created by a specialist jeweller in New Zealand – are individually decorated with 24 diamonds and 130 sapphires.
It also boasts fragments of 10 Downing Street, the royal box at Ascot, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic base, Hut Six at codebreaking centre Bletchley Park and one of Sir Edmund Hillary’s Everest ladders, as well as timber from 30 palaces, castles and cathedrals, much of which was fashioned into small, varnished squares and used to decorate the interior walls and door panels.
There is even a fragment of Florence Nightingale’s dress – and materials from World War Two aircraft.
Article by Mosman Collective, written by Kathryn Barton. Read more here.
