Managing Director – Bridge Classic Cars
A specially modified and designed Land Rover Defender Gun Bus has been revealed as the late Duke Of Edinburgh’s hearse. In an intimate conversation with the Queen, Phillip said “Just stick me in the back of a Land Rover and drive me to Windsor.”
Known for his love of Defenders and Land Rovers, this final drive seems only fitting. With the hearse designed and engineered with the Duke, this Defender is an incredibly sentimental restoration.
The modified Defender Gun Bus has been created by Foleys in 2016 and designed with the Duke. In 2005 the Defender bus was commissioned and has since been built onto a galvanised chassis with a hand-built rear body in a traditional Deep Bronze Green as requested.
According to a report by The Sun, the funeral is set to be a ‘green funeral’ as the Defender Hearse is rumoured to be a hybrid.
The funeral company, Leverton and Sons, who has organised the funerals of other Royal Family members and is the oldest funeral directors in London. In 2017 they became the first company to offer an electric hearse, which is based on the Nissan Leaf. It is said that the Duke’s coffin will be an environmentally friendly wool coffin.
