The build-up to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee has been pretty unavoidable. Every newspaper, every television station and every website seems to be obsessed with the forthcoming Jubilee festivities and, here at BuyYourCar.co.uk, we thought it was about time we got on the bandwagon.
Whether you're a Monarchist or a Republican, you have to admit (or should that be 'one has to admit'?) that old Lizzie Windsor has a pretty good taste in cars, and to celebrate this we've taken a look back at some of the Royal Family's best motors.
Bentley State Limousine
In many ways, the Queen's official state car is much like the Monarch herself -- imposing, regal and part-German. Bentley handcrafted the Queen's limo for her Golden Jubilee in 2002 and fitted it with a Rolls-Royce 6.75-litre V8 engine and coach doors. Despite churning out 400bhp, the Bentley tops out at 130mph thanks to the extra weight added by the armoured glass and bodywork, not to mention the several hundred dead cow skins stitched onto the seats.
Rolls-Royce Phantom IV
The Phantom IV is the most exclusive Rolls-Royce ever built -- only 18 were ever made and all ended up under the ownership of Heads of State. Queenie took delivery of her Roller in 1950 and it was originally painted Valentine Green, before being re-sprayed upon her accession to the throne. The Phantom is also fitted with a specially modified driver's seat in case Prince Phillip wants to drive it himself. Those crazy royals!
Bentley Turbo R
Although you'll often see our future King tootling around in an Audi or a Range Rover, for official business he uses a Bentley Turbo R. The Bentley is armour plated and is pretty powerful thanks to its 6.75-litre V8 engine. Which is handy, especially when students start throwing eggs at you.
Aston Martin DB6 Volante
Ol' jug-ears was given this gorgeous Aston Martin DB6 for his twenty-first birthday and it was recently seen being driven by Prince William as he left Buck House on his wedding day. Only 1,967 DB6s were ever made and they were all fitted with 4.0-litre straight-six engines developing over 280bhp.
Range Rover
It seems most of the Windsor family have Range Rovers and the Queen uses hers for pottering around in the countryside and attending country shows. The Range Rover has become a bit chintzy and glitzy of late and has had its image sullied by its popularity with the nouveau-riche, so it's strange that Her Majesty has hung onto hers.
Land Rover Defender
This is more like it. The Queen (aka Helen Mirren) was seen driving one of these in the imaginatively-titled film, The Queen. She then sees a deer and scares it away before her husband gets the chance to shoot it in the face. As you do.
Rover P5
The Rover P5 was used by just about everybody during the 1960s and '70s. Harold Wilson had one, Thatcher had one and, of course, Her Maj had one. The Queen's P5 was her own personal car and more often than not she would drive it herself. It came with Rover's fabled 3.5-litre V8 engine and is currently on display at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, Warks.
Reliant Scimitar GTE
Princess Anne was given this Reliant Scimitar GTE for her twentieth birthday in 1970 which seems a bit mean to us -- after all, didn't Charles get an Aston Martin? Anyways, the Scimitar was made out of plastic by some men in Tamworth and was fitted with a 3.0-litre Ford V6. On balance, we'd rather have had the Aston.
Daimler Majestic V8
Her Majesty used this car between 2001 and 2004, clocking up 14,000 miles in it. Not only did it have a direct telephone link to Downing Street in it -- Tony must have loved that -- but it also had a special tray on which Liz could rest her handbag, as well as leather inserts for the arm pockets to stop her corgis sliding into them. Right...
Gold State Coach
Okay, so it's not strictly a car, but we thought that the Gold State Coach deserved an honourable mention. It weighs four tonnes, it's over seven metres long and it's more ostentatious than Theo Paphitis's Maybach. On the plus side, it's congestion-charge-exempt and it does infinity miles to the gallon. Not even a Prius can manage this.
So there you have it. If you have any comments or are interested in purchasing some leather covers to stop you corgis falling into your door pockets, feel free to type your message below.
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