The Queen's love of her home in Balmoral in Aberdeenshire was well known. She spent most summers at her beloved 50,000-acre country estate that is nestled in the Scottish Highlands. Now as her coffin leaves Balmoral on a six-hour journey to Edinburgh, where it will lie at St Giles’ Cathedral, staff at her 'favourite home' sent flowers from the estate with Her Majesty on her final journey.
The wreath on the coffin is made up of flowers from the Balmoral estate including sweet peas – one of the Queen’s favourite flowers – dahlias, phlox, white heather and pine fir.
A great deal of thought went into the emotional selection for the Queen, with many of the blooms holding a special significance in tribute to her husband relationship with Prince Philip. Dahlia flowers symbolise a lasting bond and lifelong commitment between two people, while sweet peas are associated with the ideas of departures and goodbyes.
