Is lying in state a closed coffin?

[GreenGreenGrassBlue]

I’m from a country where all our funerals are open coffin so we follow that culture here too and bring the body home for family and friends to visit. I’m assuming it’s a closed coffin due to the number of days for the Queen?

Yes, exactly. She was Queen to many, many people, some of whom have (shock, horror) different cultural norms to you, MrsDanvers

Yes, the cadaver I worked on was markedly more flabby and friable in May than when I first encountered it in October. Our collective hacking at it probably didn't help, though.

Organs and body parts intended to be stored long term tend to be kept fully submerged, most of the time.

It is very common in West Indian families to have an open casket at the funeral

You've proved my point really - any one from a different tradition is "gawping" at "our queen"

Isn't that the idea? that people want to see the body of someone who isn't even their family? I'm allowed to find that distasteful whether you like it or not. And it's OUR tradition that you don't look at the body.

Yes, exactly. She was Queen to many, many people, some of whom have (shock, horror) different cultural norms to you, MrsDanvers

Yeah, well guess what, that's not my cultural norm. How about respecting that?

Lots of different cultures in this country @MrsDanversGlidesAgain

I was not sure for royalty. I am not sure what lying in State is for example lots of leaders have open caskets etc

I am not seeking to gawp.

it seems to me it’s very usual in a lot of countries upon Googling!!

No one is disrespecting your cultural norm. No one has criticised closed coffins. Pejorative terms like "gawk" are extremely disrespectful. I didn't gawk at my father or my best friend.

@BlooberryBiskits it is a fair question to ask is it different for Royalty.

also we are a country of many cultures.

what we do /post communist country/ is you get asked , as a closed relative, if you with to see the open coffin in the crematorium just before it gets closed for the service /or what ever the word is/. the funeral is about a week after the death and I believed the coffins are in special rooms with low temperatures.

Absolutely no one gawps or gawks. It is a very sad time but it is part of the ritual. It helps with closure, grief, last goodbyes etc

I’m not convinced that the Queens body would be in the coffin. Likewise, I don’t believe Diana’s body was in the casket driven for miles after her funeral. I think a lot of the ceremonial things about royal funerals is just that, ceremonial for the public. This is just my opinion though.

I also think that the Queen had already died when the initial press release came out. There’s no way they’d have released information that her health was failing and have a lot of nation worried and wondering. That announcement was released to prepare the nation for an announcement of her death.

Pejorative terms like "gawk" are extremely disrespectful

Right. Of course everyone filing into Westminster Hall to see an open coffin would be utterly respectful and not at all motivated to see what the queen looks like lying in her coffin.

FGS - I've read people talking about selfies with the coffin and you're telling me 'gawking' is disrespectful??

Yep. If she wanted it, they could do open casket at the funeral. The public would never get to see. That would just be a very bad idea, it would be shared around.

YANBU, I wondered the same and this is why death is still so taboo in this country and people struggle with it. I’ve been to many funerals with open caskets as it is the norm, it makes you less afraid of death as they look so peaceful and asleep. Death is guaranteed in this life, people need to be more accepting of this fact and not act as if every death is a huge shock. The Queen was 96, it was not a shock. Sad, yes but not a shock and her own family knew that.

So am I!

Yes, when they excavated the vault at Christ Church Spitalfields they wore proper hazmat stuff, as any of those interred may have died of smallpox and they were taking no chances. They also were very careful not to have people with recent bereavements on the dig.

*many though it could be any

I’m so surprised by some of these responses. I was born in the UK and in my 38 years I’ve never been to a funeral that we didn’t have an open casket wake. My DGM was a week of open casket prayers and only closed the night before the funeral. Nice to see we are gawping freaks, I thought it was normal until now.

I have been to a number of Northern Irish funerals. Coffins were open for the wakes, then lid on for the front-of-church part. There's nothing frightening or upsetting about it. It's nice to see a face to say goodbye to, or to touch a hand goodbye, and, like the OP said, you realise it really isn't them anymore, so it doesn't feel like you are cremating or putting a loved one in the ground. It feels complete.

And even taking this care, some archaeologists have suffered PTSD after this type of excavation.

The difference is, this isn't family. This is the Queen, the woman who was the head of state for 70 years.

My partner is Jamaican and his grandmas funeral is the only one I have been to. They had an open casket for her and I didn’t realise until reading this thread that it isn’t the norm in the uk. The family also covered the casket once in the ground with the mud themselves, my partner explained that in a British burial this wouldn’t usually be done. He also said West Indian burial customs are similar to Irish?

I don't know why the word "gawp" is being thrown around it's so disrespectful to people who have been to see their deceased loved ones.
I have seen relatives, one of them being my dad and didn't gawp. How offensive.
I had a friend who died his parents had him brought him home in an open coffin, and had everyone visit who wanted to to see him and pay their respects. Not to gawp.

I think people are ( with reason ) scared of death and of seeing g dead bodies.

When my sister died I was advised not to see her .

However, due to my job I've now seen and dealt with a lot of people who have passed. If family are there , I've always tried to preserve the dignity of the deceased, but there is a big difference between seeing someone who's just died and seeing them after they've been washed , dressed etc . When I've dealt with people who have passed peacefully in their sleep it's quite serene and it's very obvious that they are no longer in that body . I can understand why some cultures would have an open casket . I would imagine it takes away some of the fear and makes it more normal and easier to accept seeing someone who just looks like they're sleeping and at peace .

I think the idea that people gawp is probably down to us brits thinking it's morbid curiosity- it shouldn't be though . Though for a British head of state who was the epitome of all things British - it would not be the done thing at all.

My experience is entirely opposite in that I've never seen an open casket at all.