For a person who probably travelled more chauffeur-driven miles in her lifetime than anyone else on earth, Queen Elizabeth II loved every opportunity to get behind the wheel herself. Whether rattling along in the most rugged 4x4s or zipping about in leather-limed luxury, she was an accomplished and skillful driver . One of her all-time favourites is said to have been a powerful, V8-engined Rover P5B and, just a few months before her sad passing in September 2022, she was still enjoying driving her Jaguar X-type estate around the Windsor estate.
Our late monarch was a great fan of both Land Rovers and Range Rovers. And if she ever heard a suspicious noise coming from under the bonnet, she probably knew what was wrong ; during the Second World War, and as Princess Elizabeth, she was enrolled in 1944 in the British Army’s Auxiliary Territorial Service, and learned how to drive – and fix – heavy Bedford military trucks. When at home at Sandringham, she insisted on a proper ‘estate’ car.
And quite a flashy choice she made, too, selecting a powerful Vauxhall Cresta PA (followed later by its PC successor) which offered as much space as it did pace. That Cresta PA is still there at Sandringham, complete with its tongue-in-cheek number plate: MYT 1. It’s part of a small and little-known car museum, tucked away in a stable block behind the main house, showing that Royal family members have been keen car enthusiasts for almost as long as the motor car itself has existed.
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