Paul Maze was invited to record the state funeral of King George VI on 15 February 1952. Executed from an office above Whitehall, this painting captures the solemnity of the occasion and shows the procession of the coffin draped in the royal standard and bearing the emblems of majesty: the Crown, the cross-mounted orb and the sceptre alongside a wreath of lilies of the valley and orchids. The coffin is drawn on a green-painted gun carriage hauled by Royal Navy seamen through Horse Guards Parade.

Interviewed by a journalist for the Daily Sketch, Maze was asked if it was a difficult subject to paint to which he replied '"No, for I am always painting such scenes. The various colours in the procession did not cause much difficulty, for one's eyes get used to taking them in and memorising them."