Royal coach sets new level of bling

It only looks old -- this 2014 model year coach has electric windows,
and aluminum chassis and gold plated shock absorbers.

THE list of modern fittings in Queen Elizabeth II’s ride this year, in which she travelled to the state opening of parliament, will not raise eyebrows.
The vehicle has an aluminium chassis, six hydraulic shock absorbers, electric windows and a heater.
But the rest of the ride made headlines around the world, from the fact that the shocks are gold plated to all the priceless artefacts that help turn the queen’s state coach into a modern time capsule.

Jim Frecklington

The new coach is only the second state coach to be built in more than a century. It was not built in the United Kingdom, but created by Jim Frecklington in his Australian workshop in Manly, a suburb of Sydney.
Priceless artifacts that span hundreds of years in British’s history, includes fragments of Henry VIII’s warship the Mary Rose, Sir Isaac Newton’s apple tree and the Stone of Destiny, were incorporated into the coach.
Legend has it the biblical Jacob had used the sandstone as a pillow, and during its 700-year recorded history, the authenticity of the stone has been doubted so much that some historians think the current Stone of Destiny was actually the cover of a cesspit handed by the defeated Scotts to Edward I of England in 1296 as part of his royal looting.
Frecklington originally intended the coach for the queen’s 80th birthday, eight years ago, but finding all the priceless artefacts to incorporate into the bodywork of the queenly carriage took a bit more time than he thought.
Frecklington, who has travelled to London, said he wanted to create something very special to mark “one of the greatest monarchs who has ever lived.

Legend has it Jacon rested his head on the sandstone from
which this tiny piece comes, but historians think the stone was
the cover of a 16  century cesspit. 

He used to work for the royal household looking after the queen’s show horses and helped build the queen’s Australian state coach, which marked the bicentenary of Australia in 1988 — the first state carriage to be constructed since 1902. The Australian government provided initial funding for his magnificent coach but he also used his own money.
The wooden crown covered in gold leaf, which forms the centrepiece of the roof’s decorations, was carved from oak from Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory.
The handrails inside the Diamond Jubilee state coach are made from timber reclaimed from the Royal Yacht Britannia.
Around 400 books of gold leaf were used to decorate the vehicle that, in a departure from tradition, has a body and wheels made from aluminium, while the interior is upholstered in pastel gold-coloured silk brocade. The Diamond Jubilee state coach is now on display at the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace.