Care for a car with a royal history? The Queen and Prince Philip’s custom Daimler is going up for auction!
Expected to bring in £55,000, the five-speed automatic was Her Majesty’s from June 2001 to January 2007 and was often seen taking Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle.
In true royal fashion, the Racing Green car includes an extendable handbag tray and no ashtrays or cigar lighter as The Queen does not smoke and would rather those around her not either.
A space in the back remains from where the equipment was placed to keep in touch with Downing Street.
H&H Classics is holding the auction at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford of 26 July.
Head of Sales for H&H Classics, Damian Jones told the Mirror:“Royal cars do come to the market from time to time but fairly infrequently.
“So when they do come to auction they usually command a premium price. And as this car has not been entirely stripped of its royal extras it will doubtless do well on July 26th.”
The auction house’s spokesperson continued:“Every British monarch has been chauffeured around in, or has driven if they so wished, Daimlers since 1902 when King Edward VII granted the Coventry marque a Royal Warrant.
“Rolls-Royce and latterly Bentley may have become the preferred source of state limousines post-WW2 but Daimler remained happy to furnish the Royal Mews with less ostentatious conveyances that were better suited to private motoring.
“As well as an aversion to cigarette or cigar smoke, Her Majesty enjoyed driving (and being driven) with the windows down just not the one nearest to her.
“Thus, each rear armrest contains controls for both rear windows. The standard fit CD Auto Changer may have been omitted but an examination of the boot shows its place was once supplanted by equipment for keeping The Queen in touch with her Home Office and Government.
“The controls for a full suite of security lights are hidden within a compartment that would otherwise have housed the front ashtray and cigarette lighter.
“The alternately flashing front / rear fog lamps and front-mounted strobe lights are not dissimilar to the set-up on an unmarked police car but the convoy lights which nestle either side of the rear view mirror would have made Queen Elizabeth II’s presence aboard the Daimler immediately apparent to members of her security team especially at times of otherwise poor visibility.
“An even more personal touch is the nicely engineered handbag holding tray built into the armrest between the two front seats which ensured that it was readily accessible and kept away from any inadvertent footwell kicks. “
