While the Victorians turned the custom of wearing black to a funeral into a fine art (Queen Victoria herself wore black clothes for the rest of her life following the death of Prince Albert), the tradition stretches back centuries. In Hamlet, William Shakespeare wrote: 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, reflecting the practice of wearing black following a death. Go back another 1500 years to the Romans and the records show that they would often wear a toga pulla or ‘dark toga’ to funerals. Nowadays, people are often asked to wear some colour to a person’s funeral to reflect the fact it is as much a celebration of their life as well as mourning their passing.

The average cost of a funeral in 2004 was just £1920. In 2017 it was between £3784 and £4078 (depending on which survey is used). At this rate, by 2026 the average cost of a funeral could be more than £7000. With a funeral plan in place you fix the cost of the funeral director's services in your plan at today's prices. So no matter how much the cost of these services rise in the future, your family will have nothing more to pay - guaranteed. And with an independent funeral plan you can choose at a later date which funeral director you wish to appoint.