Gold State Coach

Commissioned in 1760 by Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings for King George III, and designed by Sir William Chambers, it was built in the London workshops of Samuel Butler.

[4] The coach's great age, weight, and lack of manoeuvrability have limited its use to grand state occasions such as coronations and the jubilees of a monarch.

Morocco leather straps support the body of the coach and are held by four tritons, mythical sea-gods with a man's head and a dolphin's tail.

Gilded dolphins hold in place the bar by which the coach is drawn, and the driver's foot board (no longer used) is in the shape of a scallop shell.

The two tritons at the back carry imperial symbols, representing Britain's maritime traditions and status as a dominant sea power.

[5] The carvings give the Gold Coach the air of a triumphant chariot, reflecting Britain's powerful position in the world at the time.

In the words of King William IV, a former naval officer, being driven in the Gold State Coach was like being on board a ship "tossing in a rough sea".

[8] It was brought back as part of a pageant for her Platinum Jubilee celebrations with a Pepper's ghost effect being used to show archive film of the young Queen waving to crowds from the coach.

The grooms may help handle the horses if the animals become unruly, and they carry crooked walking-sticks to hold up the traces that may become slack when the coach is taking a corner.