The Queen Rides Golden Carriage Designed by Australian Jim Frecklington
The Queen rode a six-horse-drawn golden carriage "made for the queen" by Australian Jim Frecklington as she travelled to the opening of parliament Wednesday.
The golden carriage, now popularly dubbed as the Diamond Jubilee state coach, took Frecklington ten years to finish. He started making the carriage around the time after the Sydney Olympics.
"It will be a very special day to see this coach being used. This new coach will give me a lot of pleasure and also give a lot of Australian and British people pleasure because there are so many people, especially living here in Britain, who have so much connection with it," Frecklington told AAP.
Frecklington was more than overwhelmed that The Queen rode the coach for the state opening of parliament.
The state opening of parliament is the most celebrated event within the parliamentary year as it represents the Crown in Parliament, according to the official Web site of The British Monarchy.
The event brings together the House of Commons, the House of Lords and The Queen.
As Head of State, The Queen shall officiate the opening of a new Parliament session. The Queen had only missed two of the opening of the parliament - in 1959 when she was pregnant with Prince Andrew and in 1963 when she was expecting Prince Edward.
The Diamond Jubilee state coach is only the second state coach to be ridden by The Queen in a span of more than 100 years.
Frecklington's creation of the state coach is not without political controversy.
The original plan was for the coach to be given as a gift for The Queen's 80th birthday in 2006, however, budget constrained took a toll with the construction. UK's taxpayers were against putting their money to produce the $250,000 that was promised by former Prime Minister John Howard's government.
On the other hand, Australia's prime minister had also rejected Frecklington's request for $5 million to finish the coach back in 2012.
At present, the Royal Collection Trust purchased the Diamond Jubilee state coach from private donations.
Frecklington's humble beginning was working for the Royal Household seeing through the Queen's show horses and this helped him build the Queen's Australian state coach.