Quote Originally Posted by Big King Sanctaphrax
I apologise if I'm misinterpreting your post Kukri, but in this context a state funeral doesn't just mean one paid for by the state-although, it is paid for by the state. It describes an enormously fancy funeral-as-public-event which is normally reserved for dead royals and other notables.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_f...United_Kingdom
No, you got it BKS. My bad... I should have dropped the 'paid-for' bit, as it's only slightly relevant who pays for such pomp. Looking at that Wiki link you gave, it looks like US (since our civil war) and Canada have State-Funeralled our chief executives, but UK does not. That still surprises me - I guess because I assumed the UK was all for any reason to have a ceremony - that assumption now proved wrong, at least in the case of your PM's