The Final Tribute to "Her Boys," from Her Late Majesty

Yesterday I learned the answer to a question I had, and thought I’d pass it along.

When Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin was returned to London from Scotland, I was upset that she was being transported on a Royal Air Force C-17 military cargo aircraft. In the last two years, the Royal Air Force has converted an Airbus A-330 and Airbus A-321 aircraft with a beautiful new paint job. (It should be noted that her final flight set a world record for the most tracked flight ever with over 6 million people following the flight online.)

Here’s what I’ve learned about the flight –

You may recall when Diana, Princess of Wales tragically was killed in a car crash, HM The King, then Prince of Wales, traveled to Paris with Diana’s sisters on a BAE-146 aircraft of the Queen’s Flight, operated by the 32nd Royal Squadron. What I didn’t know until now, is that there were challenges loading Diana’s coffin into the luggage hold of the small regional jet. Existing plans at the time for Her Majesty’s funeral included the use of the same aircraft should she pass away outside London. Following Diana’s death, the Royal Air Force reached out to Buckingham Palace to share the concern because at the time only two aircraft could fill the role in pre-planning – the C-130 Hercules and the C-17 Globemaster. The C-130, an older, rather noisy propeller-driven aircraft was ruled out so the decision was made to recommend the C-17 to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. They knew it could fulfill this mission as it had been used in repatriating remains of soldiers killed in Afghanistan back to the United Kingdom.

A dress rehearsal proved the C-17 would work for this incredibly important role but the switch from an impressively painted aircraft of the Queen’s Flight to the C-17 was fairly significant, so final approval from the Palace was sought.

The response came back directly from Her Majesty – “If it’s good enough to bring my boys home, it’s good enough for me.”

And that is why the late Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom took her final flight on an ordinary, military cargo jet. Even to the end, she made the ordinary, extraordinary.

God Save The Queen.