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Telegraph – Gold inlaid carriage which may carry Prince William to wedding completed for the Queen

The state coach Britannia will be only the second carriage to join the Royal Family in the last 100 years.

The £620,000 carriage is a gift for the Queen from Australia whose new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a Republican, wants a referendum on the monarchy. The designers claim that it has more gold than any other vehicle made in Britain for almost 200 years.

The carriage was commissioned by Mr Rudd’s predecessor John Howard and has taken two years to complete. It was designed and built in Sydney by Jim Frecklington who learned his trade working in the Royal Mews. The project has been overseen by the Duke of Edinburgh, a renowned carriage driver.

In 1986, to commemorate Australia’s bicentenary two years later, Mr Frecklington, 57, designed and built the Australian State Coach which was a gift from Australia to Britain. The coach is used regularly by the Queen for the State Opening of Parliament. Before that the last coach to be made was in 1902 for the coronation of Edward VII.

It contains a time capsule containing elements of British history including material from a Lancaster bomber which once flew with the 617 Squadron -the Dambusters. There is metal from a musket ball from the Battle of Waterloo to symbolise the Army and wood from the Victory, representing the Royal Navy.’

There is also wood from cathedrals including St Paul’s, Canterbury, Wells and York as well as segments from Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, the Mayflower, the Queen Mary and the former Royal Yacht Britannia.

The funfacts continue! (I’m tagging this with “cars”. But that’s not…)

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