A NORTH Yorkshire business has had the "honour" of creating the flag that is draped over the Queen's coffin.

The Royal Standard flag for use in Scotland, which was draped over Queen Elizabeth II's coffin during the journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh, was manufatured by Knaresborough based company, Flying Colours Flagmakers.

The firm, which been running for 30 years, has created flags for the royal family since 2000, and was granted the Royal Warrant in 2008, meaning it is now the only flagmaker for the family.

The business was commissioned to create the flag last year, along with the one for use in England when the Queen's coffin journeys from Edinburgh to London. Each flag took more than 50 hours to make.

Andy Ormrod, owner of Flying Colours, said: "We are incredibly lucky to do this.

"We are so honoured to have created these flags for the most prestiguous person in the world, and for people all over the world to see our flag, it shows the superb quality work of our 18 members of staff.

"The royal family order flags for all their palaces and members of the family, though we never know what they're going to be used for or when they will be used until we see them on the TV.

"We received the order for this flag like any other order we get from them, and we thought nothing of it, however we knew that this flag was to be draped over something, as it would not have a ring for it to be on a pole, so we knew what we were making it for.

"It was a huge satisfaction to see the flag on TV, but it was strange this time as the flags are normally used for joyous occasions."