The 5 Most Expensive Funerals in the World

By Caitlyn Ng

Talk about a grand send-off. Funerals are getting mighty expensive even for the 'common man' but what about those who are not so common? These are some of the most expensive funerals the world has seen (we can't tell you about those where numbers were kept secret of course!).

Would you want such a party when you're gone? Chances are, you won't have it but dreaming is nice.

Princess Diana

Now who doesn’t know of the beautiful and elegant British royal who won so many hearts all over the world with her fund-raising work that she was given the nickname of “People’s Princess”? Lady Diana Frances née Spencer married Prince Charles of Wales in an absolutely stunning fairytale wedding ceremony that was witnessed by a global television audience of over 750 million! However, that “happily ever after” was not to be for Princess Diana as her marriage to the Prince ended in divorce on 28 August 1996. Tragically, her marriage was not the only thing to end abruptly.

On 31 August 1997, her life was also snatched away in a horrific car crash on 31 August 1997. Even though she was no longer wife to Prince Charles, she was nevertheless given a royal funeral procession in Westminster Abbey, London. This time, approximately 2.5 billion people were glued to their tellies to witness the coffin of the “People’s Princess” make its way through a 4 mile procession. The total costs of the funeral were estimated to be about RM27 million.

Pope John Paul II

Pope Saint John Paul II, also known as Saint John Paul the Great, was born in Poland and chosen as the pope of the Catholic Church from 16 October 1978. He became the second longest-serving pope in modern history, after Pope Pius IX, who had served the Catholic Church for 31 years. He was also the second non-Italian pope to be selected since the pontification of the Dutch Pope Adrian VI. Credited for his influence in helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe, Pope John Paul II was also the one who significantly improved the Catholic Church’s relations with other religions.

His death on 2 April 2005 after suffering a number of cancer scares, health problems as well as 2 assassination attempts, set in motion rituals and traditions dating back to medieval times. Eschewing the traditional elaborately opulent above-ground sarcophagus, Pope John Paul II was laid to rest beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, honouring the pontiff’s request to be placed “in bare earth”. There was a staggering amount of dignitaries who came to pay their last respects, and the funeral itself cost about RM40 million.

John F. Kennedy

Probably one of the most famous American presidents of all time, John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy served as the 35th President of the United States after he was elected to the office on 20 January 1961. Some quick fun facts about him: he was the first person born in the 20th century to serve as president and the only president to have won a Pulitzer Prize for his book ‘Profiles in Courage’, detailing U.S. Senators who risked their careers for their personal beliefs. In addition, it was also he who initiated Project Apollo, which would culminate in the moon landing of astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

An assassination attempt on President JFK turned out to be tragically successful when he was shot through the throat, the upper back and in the head (which proved to be the fatal shot) on 22 November 1963. In a bizarre twist, the President’s assassin (Lee Harvey Oswald) was himself shot by another assassin (Jack Ruby) before his trial. The state funeral which took place in Washington, D.C. saw representatives from more than 90 counties coming to pay their last respects and cost approximately RM141 million.

Ronald Reagan

Another American president makes this list, and this time it’s that of Ronald Reagan, the saviour of the fiscally conservative Republican Party. Did you know that before his election as the 40th President of the United States, he went to Los Angeles to begin a career as an actor, first in films and later in television? Believe it! During his term, he implemented various new political and economic initiatives, of which his supply-side economic policies have been dubbed as ”Reaganomics”. Like the President mentioned above, he too survived an assassination attempt during his first term, when he was struck by gunfire from a would-be assassin (John Hinckley, Jr.), outside the Washington Hilton Hotel.

By the time he turned the ripe old age of 93 years old, it was revealed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, but he passed away due to a more common illness: pneumonia. His funeral saw tens of thousands of Americans thronging Capitol Hill in order to visit his coffin he was buried at the Washington National Cathedral. The overall cost? A whopping RM1.3 billion (approximately), due in part to the official Day of Mourning where the stock markets were closed and federal workers were given leave.

Alexander the Great

Even with modern limitations like taking into consideration conversion rates and lack of credible information, many historians have agreed that the most expensive funeral of all time – by miles – was for Alexander the Great. This has earned him the funny moniker of “Alexander the Great-ly Expensive”. Laugh with me people! However, the people who organised the entire funeral probably didn’t laugh at how the entire shindig turned out! Over 2 years of planning, lots of gaudy gold (gold sarcophagus, gold casket and gigantic golden chariot, anyone?) and RM1.9 billion later, the famous warrior was on his way to be buried.

There was a glitch though, his burial was supposed to be in his home country of Macedonia, which was located 1,800 miles away from the location that he had passed away (present-day Iraq). After all that careful preparation, the entire procession started out and to make matters more hilarious, there was a large bell attached to the chariot and rung constantly to let everyone know how important the event was. However, halfway home, the entire chariot containing the great leader’s remains were hijacked by one of his generals and taken to Egypt where it was entombed inside an ornate glass sarcophagus.

* Caitlyn Ng is an Investigative Journalist of SaveMoney.my, an online consumer advice portal which aims to help Malaysians save money through smart (and most of the time painless) savings in their daily banking, technology, and lifestyle spending habits.