The Only People Outside The British Royal Family Given State Funerals

The death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8, 2022, was a shock to many, even though the British monarch had made it to the age of 96. While the queen had been absent from a number of public engagements during the 12 months leading up to her death, and Buckingham Palace had announced that she had been suffering from "mobility issues," the fact that she had been seen on television greeting the new British Prime Minister Liz Truss just 48 hours before her death was announced meant she had taken ill suddenly, and her death was hugely unexpected.

During the 10 days of national mourning following the queen's death, Britain's loss became the biggest news story in the world, while the queen's opulent state funeral ceremony, which took place on September 19, became one of the biggest spectacles in living memory, attracting tens of millions of viewers in the U.K. and potentially billions worldwide across various media over the course of the day.

State funerals in the U.K. are typically reserved for royalty. In recent years, state funerals have been given for Prince Philip, the queen's husband of 70 years, who died in 2021 at the age of 99, and the Queen Mother, who died at the age of 101 in 2002. However, over the course of British history, a handful of well-respected public figures not of royal descent have also been given the honor of a state funeral. Here is the full list in chronological order.

British scientists Sir Isaac Newton (December 25, 1642 – March 20, 1727) is best remembered today as the father of gravitational theory, with the oft-told anecdote that he discovered the force of gravity after an apple fell on his head while he was lying under a tree being told to countless generations of science students since Newton's death in 1727.

Newton was hailed as a genius in his day and is still considered one of the most original and brilliant scientific minds of all time. However, Newton's energies were not poured exclusively into the study of gravity during his 84 years on Earth. Per Britannica, Newton made striking discoveries in optics and mathematics, and even towards the end of his life, served his country as warden of the Royal Mint.

Newton was so well thought of that following his death, his body lay in state at Westminster Hall, where he was visited by numerous prominent noblemen as well as fellow scientists and colleagues from the Royal Society. He was buried at Westminster Abbey, the first scientist in history to be so, where numerous memorials commemorate him. Newton has since been joined in his final resting place by other deceased members of the British scientific community, including evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin and physicist Stephen Hawking.

Equal in standing to Viscount Nelson among British military history buffs is Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (May 1, 1769 – September 14, 1852), another of the exclusive group of non-royal public figures to have been given a state funeral in Britain, with his name being secured in British history for his role as military commander in the Battle of Waterloo.

Queen Victoria herself insisted that Wellington be honored with the most lavish memorial ceremony possible. Benjamin Disraeli, the Prime Minister at the time of Wellington's death, described him in parliament as "the greatest man of a great age," and endorsed a period of national mourning and states funeral for the late military leader and parliamentarian, according to the chronicler Joseph Drew.

Per British History Online, Wellington's body lay in state at Chelsea Hospital in the days prior to his funeral and burial at St. Paul's Cathedral. Demand was such as the event had to be ticketed, while in one tragic incident, several mourners were crushed when the crowds in Chelsea Hospital wishing to pay their respects became too voluminous.

Field Marshal Robert Cornelis Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala (December 6, 1810 – January 14, 1890), was one of the most prolific military leaders of 19th-century British imperialism, and his career as an army officer took him to the farthest reaches of the British Empire.

Noted in a contemporary obituary at the time of Napier's death, the Baron was born into a military family. His father, Frederick Napier, had achieved the rank of major in the British Army, but the younger Napier would go on to enjoy an even more illustrious career, following ruthless colonial campaigns in Abyssinia — the country where Magdala of Napier's title is found — and six years' service as commander-in-chief of the British colony in India. Napier was also a celebrated engineer, and towards the end of his life both the Governor of Gibraltar and the constable of the Tower of London.

It was in the Tower of London that Napier's remains lay in state before an opulent state funeral at the behest of Queen Victoria. His loss was also mourned throughout Europe, with the Emperor of Germany releasing a statement to the British people stating: "I deeply grieve For the loss of the excellent Lord Napier of Magdala, and I hasten to express my sympathy to you and to the whole British forces."

Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts (September 30, 1832 – November 14, 1914) was yet another prominent military figure of British imperialism whose exploits in overseas campaigns establishing British colonies abroad brought him much acclaim in his homeland, where despite his ruthlessness on the battlefield he was given the cuddly nickname "Bobs," and he cultivated warm and friendly public persona, per his biographer Harold Felix Baker Wheeler.

Roberts passed away following a short illness on a visit to inspect colonial troops stationed in St. Omer, France, where his body was laid to rest for several days while arrangements were made for his repatriation. The lifelong military commander was widely mourned following the return of his body to his native Britain, with his repatriation, state funeral, and burial at St. Paul's Cathedral becoming especially significant in the eyes of the British public occurring as they did at the outbreak First World War. As noted by Wheeler, Roberts' state funeral was a military event with thousands of people lining streets to pay tribute to the famous soldier and, through him, to the British military in general.

Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig (June 19, 1861 – January 29, 1928) was another major figure of the First World War to receive a British state funeral. Chief of staff of the British Expeditionary Force, Haig was the architect of the battle plans for many of Britain's most decisive offensives against the German forces, most notoriously the Battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916, a brutal trench battle in which 110,000 British infantry were sent "over the top" in no man's land. Haig's strategy resulted in 60,000 British casualties and 20,000 deaths, according to HistoryNet.

Though prominent war leaders, including Sir Winston Churchill, praised Field Marshal Haig as the right man to lead the British forces during the conflict, retrospective assessments of his decision-making during the war, including his willingness to sustain enormous casualties, have seen his reputation plummet in the decades since his death. Nevertheless, Haig received a grandiose state funeral, with grief at the news of his sudden death of a heart attack being mourned across the British Empire, according to Haig's biographer, Gary Mead.

Though Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (November 30, 1874 – January 24, 1965) Is remembered today as a master orator whose rousing speeches and willingness to face the threat posed by Hitler's Nazi Germany during World War II and is considered among the country's greatest ever war heroes, the years following the Victory of the allied forces in 1945 were more chequered for Churchill than his reputation today might suggest.

Just months before the end of World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the Conservative Party were voted out of power in the 1945 general election, per his biographer Andrew Roberts. What followed was six humiliating years as a leader of the opposition, with the wartime prime minister only narrowly regaining the approval of the British public in 1951 and returning the Conservatives to power.

After scraping his way back into government, Churchill, now in old age and with his health failing him, was loath to relinquish power and step down, and only did so when it became obvious that those around him and his time is up. After an extended period of peace and prosperity, at the time of his death, Churchill had become a celebrated figure once again, with an estimated 320,000 people coming to pay their respects, and he lay in state in Westminster Hall, according to Roberts. He was later buried at St. Paul's Cathedral, which had miraculously survived the impact of 28 bombs during the war through which Churchill had led Britain to victory.