Michael Jackson's funeral cost around $1 million

Michael Jackson's funeral has been revealed to have cost around $1 million.

The pop icon died on June 25 of acute Propofol intoxication, but was not laid to rest until September. He was eventually buried at Los Angeles' Forest Lawn Cemetery, at a cost of $855,730. That fee included $590,000 to entomb the singer in the Grand Mausoleum, $25,000 for his casket, the clothes he was buried in totalled $35,000 and the security bill came to $175,089.

Other items which were also paid for included $1,975 for outfits for the Jackson family, $2,000 for usher costumes, $3,682 for a photo of Michael next to his coffin to be framed, $959 for embroidery, $11,716 for invitations and service programmes, $16,000 for flowers and $21,455 for an after-ceremony event at a restaurant.

It cost $5,000 a month to store Michael's body in a temporary vault while his family waited to bury him, with his final resting place continuing to cost $5,000 a month.

The cost came to light in court documents released yesterday. They also show Michael's mother Katherine Jackson asked for the administrators of his estate to pay the expenses to the funeral home and police department just three days before the service took place on September 3. It was revealed that if the money was not made available the funeral "would not proceed".

Katherine's lawyers said if that was allowed to happen, she and her family would be caused "public embarrassment and added grief, along with the daunting task of having to make new arrangements".

The administrators agreed to the payments, and also reimbursed Michael's sister Janet Jackson for the $49,000 she had given to Forest Lawn and Glendale police as an advance.