State and royal cars of the United Kingdom

[1] Characteristic design features - such as a raised roofline, bright interior illumination, enlarged windows and sunroofs - enable onlookers to see the occupants clearly.The future king continued to be an enthusiastic promoter of 'horseless carriages', and that same year he ordered two more vehicles from Daimler: a 12 hp wagonette and a 'beaters' car' (the latter with seating for up to fourteen passengers).The first time a motor car was used by the King for an official engagement was on 19 October 1904, when he was driven to and from Woolwich Garrison in a 28-36 hp Daimler with a limousine body, acquired a few month earlier.The Princess of Wales (the future Queen Mary) acquired her first Daimler in 1905, opting for a Mulliner-built body (Mulliner remained her coachbuilder of choice up until the accession of her husband five years later).She also regularly used a 1910 57 hp Landaulette (registered LB 7078) on official and public occasions, which the late King had ordered but hadn't lived to see delivered (she remained very fond of this car and transferred its body to a brand new chassis in 1923).[9] By the time of his coronation King George V had a working fleet of four cars kept at the Royal Mews, according to a contemporary report, along with a shooting brake and a lorry.The full fleet of cars stayed with the King at whichever royal residence he was using, usually being driven on the road to Windsor and Sandringham, but transported by rail to Balmoral.Up until the Second World War, State cars were given the additional distinguishing feature of a black-painted radiator grille (in preference to the usual chrome or bright finish).In November Queen Mary went a step further and traded in a 1913 45 hp car for a brand new Hooper-bodied Double-Six '30' (which, like its predecessor, was for private use: green-painted and decorated with her personal monogram).)[9] At the time, he was convalescing from illness and acquired in addition a six-wheel open-roof Crossley to enable him to resume shooting;[11] it had coachwork by Barker & Co., was painted in royal claret and upholstered with waterproof blue leather.In October 1930, in the midst of the Great Depression, it was announced that the King and Queen had placed an order for no fewer than five new Double-Six Daimlers as part of their desire 'to stimulate British industry, which is passing through difficult times' and to 'help unemployment during the winter months'.She also continued to make use of her 1935 limousine, and furthermore inherited her late husband's Silver Jubilee car (which was given the number plate CYF 662) and with it 'Humphrey', his long-serving erstwhile chauffeur.[9] At the end of the war the Royal Mews contained no fewer than seven 32 hp 4+1⁄2-litre Straight-Eight cars: one dating from 1936, two from 1937, one from 1939, the two Lanchesters and the 1937 Shooting Brake (which was normally kept at Windsor Castle).Throughout his reign, the King had a preference for the landaulette car body style: unlike his parents, he and the Queen always sat in the rear seats on public occasions and lowering the hood enabled them to be seen.It was envisaged that this car (which was registered HRH 1) would serve the needs of the Princess and her husband as their formal duties increased; but the following year, on a visit to the new Rolls-Royce factory in Crewe, the Duke's attention was caught by an experimental vehicle with a straight-eight Bentley engine, known as the 'scalded cat'.Further enquiries from the Duke led to the development of what would become the first Rolls-Royce Phantom IV: in 1950 he and the Princess took delivery of this car, which was a dark green-painted Mulliner-bodied limousine, registered LGO 10.She and the Duke of Edinburgh, however, already owned the 1950 Rolls-Royce Phantom IV limousine and it was resolved that this should now become her No.1 State Car; it was therefore repainted in royal claret and black and had its number plates removed, ready to be used for the first time in its new guise on Maundy Thursday, 10 April 1952.During construction, care had been taken to ensure that the Phantom IV landaulette would fit inside the garage on board the new Royal Yacht, Britannia, and it went on to be used for several tours overseas, including to Nigeria in 1956, and France and Denmark in 1957.[17] They were also provided with power steering, and with full air conditioning systems, which led to their supplanting the landaulette as vehicles of choice for overseas tours (though the cars' dimensions were such that their bumpers had to be demounted whenever they were embarked aboard Britannia).In March 1978 the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders presented the Queen with a new car to mark her Silver Jubilee: a bespoke Rolls-Royce Phantom VI limousine, with a raised roof for enhanced visibility.The first was presented to the late Queen Elizabeth II by 'a consortium of British based automotive manufacturing and service companies' as a gift to mark her Golden Jubilee that year;[29] the second was purchased.These custom-built vehicles are based on the Bentley Arnage floorplan, with a twin-turbocharged 6.75 litre V8 engine that produces 400 horsepower (300 kW) and 616 pound-feet (835 N⋅m) of torque, giving a maximum speed of 130 miles per hour (210 km/h).[39] The Queen still uses an Audi A8L vehicle, as she did before her husband's accession, for her solo official engagements outside of London [40] The current king's first car was an MGC GT, which he drove from January 1968; this was followed by a 1970 Aston Martin DB6 Mk II Volante, given to him by his mother as a 21st birthday present.[10] In 1944 King George VI bought his daughter Princess Elizabeth a Daimler DB 18 saloon for her 18th birthday; she learned to drive in this car, which had the number plate JGY 280.[10] It was succeeded in 1993 by a dark green 2.5 litre Metrocab (a type of London Taxi),[52] itself replaced in 1999 by an LPG-fuelled model[53] (which, like its predecessor, was registered OXR 3); this was in regular use until 2017, whereupon it was donated to the Sandringham motor museum.Designed for her personal use, it was finished in non-royal colours and had no provision for a shield, flag or blue lamp; on its radiator grille it usually carried one of the lion mascots previously used on her husband's Lanchester cars.[58][59] Unique to these cars was a matte rosewood dash and door cappings in black nuala leather, specifically requested by her then husband, the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, to reduce the reflection of flashes by paparazzi and portray its very public occupants in a poor light.It had a slightly higher and more elongated wing line than her sister's Phantom, and featured an automatic transmission, rare for the era on what was normally a chauffeur driven car, but specially ordered with an adjustable driver's seat so Margaret could drive herself if warranted.Like her sister, she swapped out the traditional "Spirit of Ecstasy" with another custom Edward Seago design, hers a winged Pegasus rather than the Queen's "St George Slaying the Dragon".After the Second World War the company had thoughts of setting up a museum and King George VI loaned another car with this purpose in mind (his father's 1914 Brougham, which was residing in a garage at York Cottage, Sandringham).