Next month would have been the late Queen Elizabeth’s 100 birthday, born on the 21st April 1926. A queen of the United Kingdom fondly remembered by many, especially because she helped during the second world war. I never had the privilege of meeting her, but I know some who had. I did however have the rare privilege, some years ago, of writing about her special helicopters, “The Queens Flight”, of which, some of the aircraft are now kept at the Helicopter Museum in Weston-Super-Mare.
I thought perhaps I could explore her serving in the army, and later her driving and car collection.
World War II
As a young Princess, there was some talk of ensuring her safety as heir to the throne, by sending her to Canada. However, she didn’t want that, and she wanted to be with her family and especially her father.
On 24th February 1942, aged just 15, she was appointed Colonel of the Grenadier Guards. A big honour for someone so young. As the war went on and she approached 18, consideration was given to her serving in the Army, and “doing her bit”. Now aged 18, in 1945, she took a role in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, and was appointed the rank of honorary second subaltern.
She went on to train as a driver and mechanic, and was given the rank of honorary junior commander. This training meant that she was good at fixing a broken down vehicle.
She served until after the war, and this “doing her bit” for the war effort, gave her great public affection.
After the War
Her father, King George VI died during the night of the 6th February 1952, and Princess Elizabeth became Queen whilst in Kenya causing her to return home.
Upon the death of her father, not only did she inherit a Kingdom, but better than that, she inherited his collection of luxury cars, and at that time would include cars like a 1948 Daimler, a 1939 Lanchester, a Rolls Royce Silver Wraith, and I think an early Land Rover, but this may have come later.
I do not recall ever seeing a photograph of her ever being seen in a Mercedes, nor pre-1960’s Maybach, only British cars.
Now being Queen Elizabeth, she was a keen driver, and she too collected cars, adding later Rolls Royce’s, Bentley’s, and of course later Land Rovers and Range Rovers. One that surprised me was a Rover P5B, the exact same car my late father also had, albeit in a different colour. She definitely chose British and supported British industry and brands. She was thought highly of for this.
Land Rovers
She clearly had an affection to the Land Rover, easy to work on with her training, useful for driving around the estates, and she was frequently seen alone driving a Land Rover on the Balmoral Estate in Scotland.
In 1953, she purchased a brand new Land Rover for the Balmoral Estate, registration NXN1 and used this until the mid 1960’s when it was replaced. In the 2006 film “The Queen”, there was a lovely scene of fictional drama, whereby Her Majesty had to repair her own car, the Land Rover having broken down on the Estate. This scene never happened in real life, and XNX1 was well maintained and reliable.
No Number Plates
Here is a picture of the royal vehicle, from his private fleet of, King Mark I, “The Rambling Monarch“, I wish..! If I did take “James” on the road like this without a number plate, I would be stopped very quickly and then summons to court. As it is a criminal offence in the UK to do this, the summons would be in the name of the King, or Queen, verses your name as the defendant.
However, how would the monarch of the UK summons themselves to court over this type of motoring offence? The King or Queen is the only person allowed to drive a motor vehicle without a number plate. Additionally, the road is usually closed before, and until after their convoy passes, so you could say the vehicle is never “used on the open road”.
The Queens State Bentley Limousine
Here you can see the chosen car for the Queen still aligned with the supporting of a British industry theme, and was a special one off Bentley Limousine, no number plates, that travelled anywhere that Her Majesty needed to go on state visits.
Pictured here in Hamburg, during King Charles III visit in 2023, he having inherited it from his late mother along with the other collection of fine cars, oh I nearly forgot, and a Kingdom too.
Mark Smith
“The Rambling Motorist”
Sources
- By Ministry of Information official photographer -Photograph TR 2832 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums.
- By Donald McKague Queen Elizabeth II wearing crown, blue sash and pink gown.
- Wikipeadia