The 99-year-old Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince Philip, husband to Queen Elizabeth ll, didn't want a fuss made over his funeral, he requested that his last ride would be in a Land Rover Defender. Apparently he joked about his funeral arrangements.

"Just stick me in the back of a Land Rover and drive me to Windsor,"

A Buckingham Palace, spokesman said, the duke picked out the Land Rover Defender TD5 130 that would bear his coffin 18 years ago and designed the chassis cab vehicle to his specifications. These included adding an open top rear section to carry his coffin and having the original Belize green color repainted, a military Land Rover colour, dark bronze green, as an acknowledgement to the prince's military background. It was built in the company's factory in Solihull, England, in 2003, where Land Rover has kept and maintained the vehicle and collaborated with the royal household to prepare it for the funeral. The vehicle underwent its final changes in 2019. And so it was done, his coffin, adorned with his naval cap, sword, a flag representative of his Greek and Danish heritage, and a spray of flowers chosen by the queen, was carried by eight Grenadier guards dressed in red. The guards hoisted and fastened Prince Philip's casket onto the back of his personally designed and custom built Land Rover, for his final journey, to St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle England.

The Duke had a decades-long affinity for Land Rovers, using them throughout his adult life. The Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip had a custom made open Land Rover for their visit to Nigeria, 1956. A Buckingham Palace spokesman stated that Prince Philip made several visits to the company's manufacturing facilities and accompanied the Queen when she opened the company's engine manufacturing center in Wolverhampton, England, in 2014. Prince Philip granted the company a “Royal Warrant”, 40 years ago, the mark of recognition to people and companies who regularly provide goods and services to the royal family. Along with Jaguar, Land Rover is the only automotive manufacturer to hold all three Royal Warrants from Her Majesty The Queen, His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, and His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. Prince Philip made international news headlines when he was age 94, and shown driving a Range Rover carrying President and Mrs. Obama, along with the Queen in 2016. Eventually, Prince Philip "voluntarily" gave up his driver's license, in 2019, after he had been seen driving with no seatbelt only days after his collision in his Land Rover Freelander, with a Kia car, in which two people were injured.

So after decades of using and enjoying Land Rovers, it’s a mark of a man, so practical and ingenious who spent his life time promoting engineering skills to turn a Land Rover Defender into his very own, unique hearse, marrying his two passions so effectively.