It should be completed soon. For six years, Australian Jim Frecklington has been building a new carriage for his monarch, working on it almost every day.
This 74-year-old master craftsman, who already has to his credit two horse-drawn vehicles of this type delivered in the past to Queen Elizabeth II, is this time working for King Charles III. And it was on the occasion of his tour, with Queen Camilla, at the end of October 2024 in Oceania, that he exclusively revealed this carriage to the journalists of the ” Sun » in its Sydney warehouse.
Something “special” to honor Charles III
“If I hadn’t done it, no one else in the world would do it,” he then declared, according to comments reported by the English tabloid.
“No one else knows how to do it and it’s my best yet.” I wanted to do something special to honor King Charles,” he explained, while specifying that he regularly reports on the progress of his work to the monarch and told him, being cared for like him for cancer, he understood what he was going through.
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Australian speckled eucalyptus and Suffolk silk
Intended to be pulled by six horses, this majestic carriage, weighing 3.25 tonnes, is 5.8 m long and 3.4 m high. While its seats are covered in Suffolk silk, its undercarriage is made of speckled eucalyptus – a tree endemic to eastern Australia also called spotted gum -, covered in 24-carat gold leaf.
Detail of the coat of arms of King Charles III on the door of the new carriage built for him by Jim Frecklington, in Sydney on October 18, 2024 ABACA / © News Licensing
The body, which will incorporate electric glass windows and interior armor, is made of handmade aluminum panels painted black. It is decorated with the coat of arms and the sovereign’s cipher and a floral decoration designed by Jim Frecklington.
Australia’s golden wattle and the national flowers of the other 55 Commonwealth countries
The roof is lined with the national flowers of each of the 56 Commonwealth countries, including, just above the door, Australia’s golden acacia.
Detail of the frieze of the national flowers of the Commonweath countries which covers the new carriage built for King Charles III by Jim Frecklington, in his Sydney workshop on October 18, 2024 ABACA / © News Licensing
Detail of the frieze of the national flowers of the Commonweath countries which covers the new carriage built for King Charles III by Jim Frecklington, in his workshop in Sydney on October 18, 2024. In the center, the golden acacia of Australia ABACA / © News Licensing
As for the plant and animal symbols of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – the four countries of the United Kingdom – they will be displayed on the glass panels of its brass lanterns.
Detail of the hubs of the golden wheels, scarlet red in reference to the uniforms of the British army, of the carriage built for King Charles III by Jim Frecklington, in his workshop in Sydney on October 18, 2024 ABACA / © News Licensing
And if the hubs of the golden wheels – which will not turn with these like on the Rolls-Royce – are red, it is to represent all the soldiers who have worn this traditional scarlet color of the British army uniform .
Wood from Westminster Abbey and parts of the Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge
“This is not just a carriage, but a time capsule of British history,” said Jim Frecklington. As detailed by the Australian media “ NT News », it has in fact integrated wood, probably thousands of years old, from Westminster Abbey and donated in 2019 by its dean – for the crown, equipped with a camera, covering the roof -, but also for the door handles from the Sydney Opera House – in the part allocated to the footman and the brakeman.
Or even steel coming, after recent renovation work, from the Sydney Harbor Bridge, as well as bronze bearings from an Australian steam train dating from 1943 and withdrawn from service in 1962.
In memory of the victims of the two World Wars in the British Empire
Added to this are two replicas of “Dead Man’s Pennies”, commemorative plaques which were sent to the relatives of the 1.3 million subjects of the British Empire who fell during the First World War. These will be placed inside the right door, right next to where the ruler and his wife will sit.
Captain Edward Elliott’s Westminster watch and one of two replicas of the “Dead Man’s Pennies” which will be placed in the carriage built for King Charles III by Jim Frecklington, in his Sydney workshop on October 18, 2024 ABACA / © News Licensing
The Second World War will be evoked by the presence, under the seat, of the Westminster watch worn by Captain Edward Elliott, killed in a Nazi bomb attack on the Houses of Parliament in May 1941.
In addition, the carriage will contain miniature portraits of the 42 kings and queens, since William the Conqueror, based on those in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Some of the medallions of the 42 British kings and queens which will be placed in the carriage built for King Charles III by Jim Frecklington, in his Sydney workshop on October 18, 2024 ABACA / © News Licensing
Once completed and when the Royal Household wishes, the imposing vehicle should be transported to the United Kingdom by cargo plane.
Jim Frecklington mortgaged his house to finance the construction of this carriage
To finance its construction, Jim Frecklington mortgaged his house. What he had already done for the “Diamond Jubilee State Coach” that he made for Elizabeth II in 2013, recalled “NT News”, which adds that this one, like the “Diamond Jubilee State Coach” Australian State” which he completed in 1989, had been purchased by a benefactor through the Royal Collection Trust and had cost neither the royal family nor the British or Australian taxpayers a penny.
Hopefully it will be the same for his third, which he would like to see named “Commonwealth Coach”. “I am very proud of the Commonwealth. He made the world a much safer place,” he said.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in London on June 4, 2014 aboard the “Diamond Jubilee State Coach” built by Australian Jim Frecklington SIPA / © Jonathan Brady/AP
