Behind the wheel of Harry’s wedding motor
The electric eco-friendly Jaguar E-Type in which the newly wed Duke and Duchess of Sussex glided to their lavish reception turned almost as many heads at the royal couple themselves.
Before Prince Harry and the former Meghan Markle stepped into the one-off converted 1968 classic last weekend, I went for an exclusive spin in it.
So I can give you a Meghan’seye view and impression from the sporty leather hot-seat of the stunning metallic powder blue electric roadster which Jaguar.
Making their way from their Windsor Castle wedding to their reception at nearby 17th-century Frogmore House in the grounds, the royal couple accelerated back to the future in the fully electric version of Jaguar’s legendary E-Type sports car.
The steering wheel is on the left as the “donor” car was built originally for export. And as the trip was on private land — a Crown estate and not a public road — the car had a non-official number plate with an “E” for electric followed by the May 19 date of the wedding.
The timing of its royal coup with the electric E-Type conversion coincides with the launch next month of Jaguar’s new electric I-PACE performance SUV, part of its “green” hi-tech plans to electrify all new models from 2020.
Jaguar has taken a 1968 version of its elegant roadster dubbed “the world’s most beautiful car” and given it an automotive heart transplant — removing its powerful petrol engine and replacing it with a zero emissions electric motor and plug-in battery.
Although 80kg lighter, and faster than the original, the battery-powered leaping-cat loses its traditional roar.
Last year, I experienced the car as a passenger — the effect is exhilarating but rather weird as the revamped soft-top classic runs almost silently, save for a faint hiss reminiscent of a golf buggy.
It will shift once the pedal is pressed firmly to the metal but there’s no pollution, and no growl.
The electric E-Type Zero was engineered at Jaguar’s “Classic Works’ in Warwickshire, close to where the original E-type was born in Coventry in 1961.