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The UK’s longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has handed away at age 96. Born on April 21, 1926, she started her 70-year reign at age 25 when she ascended to the throne on February 6, 1952, upon the demise of her father George VI, though her coronation would solely take 14 months in a while June 2, 1953.
Throughout her reign, the Queen was typically pictured being chauffeur-driven to Royal engagements, and the automobile that she was typically seen travelling in is a Bentley State Limousine. Specifically commissioned by Bentley, simply two models of the state automobile had been constructed and offered to the Queen to rejoice her first 50 years on the throne.
Like The Beast utilized by the president of the US, the bespoke Bentley serves to move Elizabeth II to a location safely. It’s powered by a 6.75 litre twin-turbo V8 modified from the Arnage R to make 406 PS (400 hp) and 835 Nm of torque, and is alleged to be valued at round 10 million British kilos (round RM52 million following present trade charges).
To guard its occupants, the State Limousine’s bodywork and glass has been strengthened, whereas the cabin is blast-resistant and could be sealed air-tight within the case of a fuel or chemical assault. Even the tyres are bolstered with Kevlar to make sure the automobile can proceed driving at pace in an emergency.
Because it’s nonetheless a Bentley, consolation isn’t sacrificed, with the carmaker partaking with the Queen to put out the cabin based on her necessities. “The rear seat place was decided utilizing a mannequin of precisely the identical peak because the Queen, whereas purse stowage was designed across the dimensions of the Queen’s favorite baggage,” the corporate wrote on its web site.
“British textile producer Hield Brothers produced the lambswool fabric used for the upholstery of the rear seats, with all remaining upholstery rendered in Bentley’s mild gray Connolly disguise. The carpets, in the meantime, are pale blue within the rear and darkish blue within the entrance,” it added.
Whereas the Bentleys are used totally on official engagements, the Queen has additionally been recognized to drive herself occasionally. Nonetheless, she has by no means needed to take a driving take a look at and didn’t have a driving licence. As such, the Queen was the one individual within the nation who didn’t want a driving licence to drive as driving licences are issued in her identify.
In response to UK’s Express, this perk solely applies to the monarch, as all different members of the Royal Household are required to cross a driving take a look at earlier than they’ll get hold of their driving licence. One other enjoyable reality: Queen Elizabeth II doesn’t want a passport to journey abroad because the doc was issued in her identify.
That’s to not say the Queen has no former expertise behind the wheel. Throughout World Warfare II, then-Princess Elizabeth voluntarily served with the ladies’s department of the British Military, the Auxiliary Territorial Service. On the time, she educated as a driver and a mechanic by altering tyres and fixing heavy autos utilized by the military.
Land Rovers had been favoured of the Queen, with The Sunday Occasions reporting that she is alleged to have owned about 30 of them. The unique Land Rover (later recognized merely because the Defender) was mentioned to be her majesty’s most popular mannequin, significantly a 2002 Defender 110 with a TD5 diesel engine, raised suspension and heated seats that was regularly used for capturing events.
One other automobile from the identical firm that the Queen has been pictured driving round in was the Vary Rover, with certainly one of them sporting a private bonnet mascot depicting a labrador carrying a pheasant in its mouth. There was additionally a Vary Rover LWB Landaulet with an open-air high that allowed the Queen to face and wave on the crowd.
Proudly British is the operating theme of the Queen’s vehicles, and except for the Bentleys, Land Rovers and Vary Rovers, the steady additionally included a number of Rolls-Royce fashions. A shift from the Daimler period of vehicles utilized by monarchs earlier than her, the Queen, and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, owned a number of iterations of the Phantom from the sequence IV proper on via to the sequence VI.
Different private autos utilized by the Queen included the Jaguar X-Kind Property and Daimler V8 Tremendous LWB, Rover P5B and Vauxhall Cresta Property, Bentayga, simply to call a number of. Queen Elizabeth II will probably be succeeded by her eldest son and former Prince of Wales, who now turns into King Charles III.