Why is Queen Elizabeth II's coffin lined with lead?

Queen Elizabeth II's coffin arrived in London on Tuesday from Edinburgh, forward of the state funeral.

The late monarch handed away at Balmoral Fort in Scotland final week. She was 96.

Just like the Duke of Edinburgh, who died in 2021, the Queen will probably be buried in an English oak coffin that includes brass handles that was designed greater than 30 years in the past, and lined with lead.

The follow of burying royals in lead-lined coffins dates again lots of of years.

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The coffin carrying Queen Elizabeth II makes its method alongside The Mall through the procession for the Mendacity-in State of Queen Elizabeth II on September 14, 2022 in London, England. Queen Elizabeth II's coffin is taken in procession on a Gun Carriage of The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Corridor the place she's going to lay in state till the early morning of her funeral. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Fort in Scotland on September 8(Getty)

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As Royal Members of the family are buried inside a chamber, slightly than straight within the floor, their coffins are lined with lead as a way to sluggish decomposition.

The lead seals the coffin and prevents moisture from getting in, preserving the physique for as much as a yr.

The follow dates again to the Victorian period, when an hermetic seal on a coffin was mandatory to forestall the potent results of decay in above-ground burials.

Members of the Royal Household and English the Aristocracy have used coffins lined with lead for no less than 4 centuries.

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Queen Elizabeth and her inheritor, now-King Charles. (PA Photos by way of Getty Photos)

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In response to Westminster Abbey data, Queen Elizabeth I and King Charles II have been buried in lead-lined coffins, as have been Princess Diana, Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Francis Drake.

The mixture of lead and oak makes for a heavy coffin, so heavy the truth is, it's reported that eight army pallbearers will probably be wanted to raise Queen Elizabeth II's coffin.

The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried off a aircraft by the Queen's Color Squadron at RAF Northolt in London, to be taken to Buckingham Palace, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch and a rock of stability throughout a lot of a turbulent century, died Thursday Sept. 8, 2022, after 70 years on the throne. She was 96. (AP Picture/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool)(AP)

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The Queen will lie in state beginning Wednesday at Westminster Corridor till the funeral.

Her coffin will probably be draped within the Royal Normal and topped with the Imperial State Crown, the Sovereign's Orb, and the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross.

Following the funeral, the Queen will probably be buried inside King George VI Memorial Chapel in Windsor Fort, subsequent to King George VI, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mom, and the ashes of her sister Princess Margaret.

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As soon as there, Prince Philip's coffin will probably be moved from the Royal Vault beneath St. George's Chapel to lie subsequent to her.