With the imminent coronation of King Charles III, much will be made of his commitment to sustainability. But, did you know that, as well as being an environmental crusader, he’s also a bit of a car enthusiast?
These two penchants might seem at odds, but in fact, the King brings them together to provide a template for sustainable motoring that shows how it’s possible to care for the environment, and to love cars, at the same time.
The Royal Family has always chosen luxurious cars with the trappings of grandeur to which they’ve become accustomed, and as you’d expect, British marques have featured heavily. And now, the King’s fleet of royal vehicles combines that opulence with the sorts of sustainable choices that you’d expect from such an ardent environmental crusader. He was, after all, the first Royal to buy a modern electric car, a Jaguar I-Pace he added to the fleet in 2018.
A Regal History of Royal Vehicles
But the King’s EVs are not the first to grace the royal stable. In fact, while the earliest known royal motor vehicle was a Daimler 6hp with Hooper & Co. bodywork, which joined the household in 1900, Queen Alexandra actually bought a Columbia electric car for use on the Sandringham estate as early as 1901, while the Prince of Wales (the future King George V) owned two City and Suburban electric cars in 1902.
Mind you, as The Sketch pointed out in 1902: “Seers of the sanguine sort foretell the universal use of electricity as the propelling agent of motor-cars ere long, but at the moment their limitations for fresh supply of current handicap them compared with the practically inexhaustible petrol-engine, which, when its supply does need renewal, can be satisfied in fewer minutes than the electrical vehicle demands hours.”
No wonder, then, that the Royal household stuck with petrol from then on, progressing first through a succession of Daimlers; a 22hp Touring Carriage bought in 1901 was the first to use the claret colour scheme that’s since become a hallmark of royal state vehicles.
With Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to her throne, her preference for Rolls-Royce Phantoms for official duties meant they soon became the standard state vehicle. A pair of Daimler DS420s would join the fleet in the late 1980s.
In 2002, to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, she was presented with the first of a pair of Bentley state limousines which took pride of place at state occasions, and were supplemented by the Rolls-Royce and Daimler vehicles that remained on the fleet.
Of course, in addition to the state vehicles, certain members of the Royal family have their own private vehicles. Here are a few we’re aware of.
The Royal Cars:
The King’s Cars
- Aston Martin DB6 Volante
The King is known for his love of classic cars, and for being an Aston man, and this DB6 Volante was given to him as a 21st birthday present by his mother. It is the car that is perhaps most widely associated with him, and has been converted to run on E85 fuel, which is refined from cheese and wine wastes.
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- Jaguar I-Pace
Charles’s decision to buy a Jaguar I-Pace in 2018 was well documented at the time. It is believed he still owns it, and uses it for low-emission travel within London.
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- Land Rover Discovery 3
By contrast, Charles’s runaround at Highgrove, his country estate, is thought for a time to have been a Tonga Green Land Rover Discovery 3. The high-specification British car, with heated front and rear seats, was delivered to Highgrove in 2007, before being sold a few years later. Earlier this year, it popped up for sale at auction, where it fetched £12,000.
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- Tesla Model S
Despite the King’s purchase of a Jaguar I-Pace, he’s also been seen being chauffeured around London in a Tesla Model S. It was only on loan from an online luxury car retailer, however, and had never been owned by the Royal Family.
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- Audi A4 Allroad
The King has also been spotted driving around at Balmoral, the Family’s Scottish estate, in an Audi A4 Allroad. Indeed, it’s the car that was believed to be involved in an accident with Charles at the wheel, when he hit a deer on the estate.
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- Bentley Turbo R
One of Charles’s previous steers, his Bentley Turbo RL was part of the Royal fleet from 1994 to 1996. The Brewster Green example came up for auction in 2018, having been through two more owners, and covered 140,000 miles. The eventual sale price was not disclosed.
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- Range Rover (First Generation)
The King was regularly seen driving a green three-door Range Rover owned by the Royal Family while he was courting Princess Diana. The V8 model sold for £101,350 when it was auctioned in 2018.
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Queen Elizabeth II
- Land Rover Defender 110 (1983–2016 models)
Probably the car most widely associated with the late Queen was the Land Rover – a car which she was frequently seen driving around at Balmoral and Sandringham. A series of Land Rovers passed through Her Majesty’s hands, but perhaps the ones she’s best associated with are the Royal Review vehicles built for her Commonwealth Tour in 1953-54, the cars which, it’s said, gave the Queen her fondness for the marque.
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- Jaguar X-Type Estate (2004-2010 generation)
The Queen was often pictured driving around Windsor in her Jaguar X-Type Estate. The car was later sold at auction in 2022, and revealed to be a luxurious Sovereign specification.
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- Vauxhall Cresta Estate (1957-1962 generation)
Starting with this PA Cresta with a Friary estate conversion, which wore the plate MYT1, the Queen had a run of large Vauxhall estates. She was later seen behind the wheel of a 1967 PC Cresta, as well as a Viceroy, an Omega and even an Insignia.
- Bentley Bentayga (2015-2020 generation)
A little-known fact is that the first ever Bentley Bentayga off the production line was gifted to the Queen in 2015. She hasn’t been seen driving it much, which might suggest she wasn’t an enormous fan.
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Prince William
- Audi RS E-Tron GT
The Prince of Wales is thought to have added an Audi RS E-Tron GT to the Royal Fleet. He and the Princess of Wales, then the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, were seen arriving at the inaugural Earthshot Prize at Alexandra Palace in the car in 2021.
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- Ford Focus (1998-2005 generation)
The Prince famously learned to drive in a Mk1 Ford Focus in 1999. He was later pictured arriving at Highgrove in the car having passed his driving test.
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- Volkswagen Golf (1991-1998 generation)
However, the Ford Focus wasn’t his first car. In the end, Prince Charles bought Prince William a second-hand Volkswagen Golf, which he was pictured driving in 2001.
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Prince Harry
- Audi RS6 (2013-2018 generation)
Prince Harry was seen driving a pumped-up Audi RS6 Avant estate at a polo event in 2017; he also used the same car to take Meghan Markle, who would soon become the Duchess of Sussex, to the wedding of his sister-in-law, Pippa Middleton.
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- Audi E-Tron
Harry is seen driving a blue Audi E-Tron in the Netflix documentary series ‘Harry and Meghan’. The electric SUV seems like a logical choice, given his and his brother’s affinity with Audi models.
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Royal Wedding Cars: A Tradition of Elegance
Cars have been a central feature in Britain’s recent royal weddings. As you might expect, transport to Westminster Abbey for such events is usually aboard a more regal vehicle, such as a state Bentley or Rolls Royce, as was the case with both Prince William and Prince Harry’s weddings.
Of course, the transportation after the event is usually more light-hearted. William and Kate drove away from their wedding in the Prince of Wales’s Aston Martin DB6 Volante, which had been loaned to them, and was by then running on E85 fuel.
Meanwhile, Prince Harry, then the Duke of Sussex, drove away with his new bride in an electrified Jaguar E-Type, known as the Concept Zero.
The Future of Royal Transportation: Sustainability and Luxury
Given the King’s eco-conscious bent, it’s most likely that future Royal state vehicles will be either electric or hydrogen-powered. Given the age of the majority of the fleet, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a new state car revealed in the coming years, with electric power at its heart.
Neither would it be a shock to hear of the King trading his electric Jaguar I-Pace up for an electric Range Rover when the new model comes on stream. One thing’s almost certain, though: the King’s interest in cars means he’ll always have one eye on the royal car collection.