How were the most expensive and magnificent funerals of famous people in history

On November 15, 1982, the funeral of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was held at Red Square. As on the last journey of his predecessors, thousands of citizens joined the magnificent procession. Funerals are an integral part of life, and since many celebrities and political figures live in a big way, they are escorted to their last journey accordingly.

Leonid Brezhnev, who died on November 10, 1982, like other Soviet general secretaries, was buried with special pomp, although the cost of such a procession is not known for certain.

The whole ceremony was extremely lavish, but it was not without some incidents. As a rule, during the funeral of Soviet leaders, it was customary to carry velvet pillows with orders and medals behind the coffin with the body of the deceased, and this duty was assigned only to senior officers.

Each officer carried a cushion with one order. Brezhnev had more than two hundred of them. I had to combine some awards, and the honorary officer escort was 44 people.

For three days, the body of the Secretary General was displayed in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions, where it was visited by several hundred thousand people. They buried Brezhnev at the Kremlin wall, and at that moment all enterprises and organizations of the country stopped their work for five minutes, which also cost a lot of money in total.

Michael Jackson was a real king of pop music, and his death, like his life, was shrouded in high-profile scandals: the singer died in 2009 from an overdose of propofol, which was blamed on his personal doctor.

Jackson was buried only two months after his death in the" Great Mausoleum " of the Hollywood cemetery Forest Lawn. Among the guests were only relatives and close friends of the singer, but several hundred journalists received accreditation, and millions of Americans watched the ceremony live.

After the king of pop music was buried in a huge chapel, the guests went to a memorial dinner at an Italian restaurant.

The artist's coffin, named "Prometheus", was made of bronze and covered with 14-karat gold dusting, and inside it was upholstered in bright blue corduroy fabric. This product cost 25 thousand dollars.

The whole ceremony, although it took an hour and a half, cost the singer's relatives an amount close to a million dollars.

James Brown, the godfather of soul, died at the age of 73 from a heart attack on the background of pneumonia. The funeral of a lover of chic and glitter was furnished accordingly.

His farewell was held at the Apollo Theater in New York in Harlem. His coffin was almost the same as the coffin of Michael Jackson, respectively, and its price was sky-high.

The funeral of Elvis Presley, another "king", this time of rock and roll, in 1977 cost $ 23,789 (more than a hundred thousand in terms of the exchange rate of our days).

When the news of the singer's death appeared in the newspapers, 25,000 fans surrounded his estate in Memphis in two days.

The relatives paid for the magnificent ceremony at the expense of the deceased himself, and some even managed to earn a tidy sum. The funeral itself was closed to the press, but one of Presley's cousins sold a photo of the singer's body in a coffin for $ 18,000. A magazine with a photo on the cover was bought in the amount of 6.5 million copies.

$ 1.8 million was spent on the funeral of the politician. Moreover, a fabulous amount was taken not only from the property of Margaret Thatcher, but also from the taxes of citizens.

At the same time, only 400 thousand dollars were spent on the ceremony itself in St. Paul's Cathedral, and the rest of the amount went to ensure security at the funeral.

Another 31 thousand dollars was sent to the ambulance service in London. It is not surprising that numerous protests arose among citizens, because not everyone was happy with Thatcher's policy, and therefore not everyone was happy with spending money from the budget.

Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain, writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and an honorary citizen of the United States, was buried with even greater pomp.

Since Churchill played a major role in the end of the Second World War, his funeral in 1965 corresponded to the ceremonies that are held only for members of the royal family.

In 1965, 258 thousand dollars were spent on organizing the funeral of a politician, which by today's standards corresponds to 4.2 million.

Princess Diana, the wife of Prince Charles of Wales and a favorite of the British and people around the world, died in 1997 in a car accident in Paris. 7.7 million dollars were spent on a lavish funeral (11.8 million to date).

On September 6, more than a million people witnessed the funeral procession, and the bell of Westminster Abbey struck every minute as Diana's coffin was transported on a ceremonial cannon carriage.

Pope John Paul II, the leader of the Catholic Church, led it from 1978 to 2005, until his death. On his last journey, he was escorted with pomp.

The funeral of John Paul II cost the organizers $ 11.9 million. As in the case of Thatcher, the biggest expense item was security, as four kings, five queens and 70 presidents attended the ceremony.

Queen Elizabeth, the 101-year-old Queen Mother, died in 2002, and a very lavish funeral was organized for her departure at Westminster Abbey.

The total cost of the funeral was $ 9 million (by today's standards, this amount is equal to $ 12.5 million). The Ministry of Defense allocated an amount of 462 thousand dollars for the protection of the procession, and the costs of police services remained unknown.

After the 101st bell struck, two minutes of silence followed, when all production was stopped and even planes did not take to the sky from Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The lid of the already expensive coffin was decorated with the crown of the British Empire with the famous Kohinoor diamond.

John F. Kennedy, one of the most beloved presidents in US history, was assassinated in 1963. The burial site was chosen at Arlington National Cemetery, the cost of which was $ 13 million.

The coffin with the body of the president was moved on a cannon carriage, in front of which a black stallion was led. When the coffin was lowered into the ground, the widow Kennedy lit an eternal flame on the grave.

The entire ceremony was broadcast by three national channels, and the entire cost of the funeral was $ 15 million.

Kim Jong-il, the supreme leader of North Korea, created a cult of himself during his lifetime, so his death caused mass hysteria among his entourage and the ordinary population.

So, a statue of Kim Jong Il was erected at a cost of $ 10 million.

Since it was decided to embalm the Secretary General, Russian specialists were involved. Their work and a special sarcophagus cost, according to media reports, a million dollars.

Ronald Reagan, a former Hollywood actor and president of the United States from 1980 to 1988, died in 2004. The funeral ceremony cost the organizers $ 400 million.

In addition, in the United States, the stock market had to close for a day due to prolonged mourning, which led to huge financial losses.

By the way, the cost of even an average funeral in Japan most often exceeds the mark of 20 thousand dollars, so it is not surprising that seeing off the last journey of the first persons of the state costs fabulous sums.

The funeral cortege of the emperor consisted of 70 cars. They, together with the support services, took $ 24 million.

Another $ 22 million was spent on the construction of a pavilion in the Shijuku-Geen Park for the funeral rites over the body of Hirohito, which were attended by 225 people.

General Secretary Joseph Stalin died of a brain hemorrhage on March 5, 1953 at 21: 50, and the next day the leader's body was displayed in the Column Hall of the House of Unions for a three-day farewell.

More than two million people took part in the procession, and in the crush on Up to two thousand people died on Trubnaya Square. On March 9, Stalin's embalmed body was placed in the Mausoleum.

The most expensive funeral in history, if we rely on the data of historical books, was arranged for Alexander the Great. According to some reports, their cost today would be more than $ 600 million.

A sarcophagus made of pure gold, a golden chariot and a new road specially built from Persia to Egypt — these are just a few expenses for seeing off the last journey of the great emperor-commander.