Rock’n’roll secret behind Harry and Meghan’s Jag
THERE is a poignant story behind the Jaguar in which Prince Harry drove Meghan Markle to their wedding reception at Frogmore House, Windsor, on Saturday.
The E-Type, which had been converted to an electric vehicle, previously belonged to Jamiroquai musician Toby Grafftey-Smith, who died last year at the age of 46 after a six-year battle with cancer.
‘The royal wedding car was bought from Toby,’ discloses his widow, Gabriella Crewe-Read, 43. ‘His brilliance is everywhere.’
She added that her late husband is ‘still here’.
Like Jamiroquai co-founder Jay Kay, Grafftey-Smith was a classic car enthusiast.
The car was sold after his death by Gabriella, with whom he had three children.
Known in the music world as Toby Smith, the keyboard player was an alumnus of Marlborough College, the £36,525-per-year boarding school where the Duchess of Cambridge was educated.
Gabriella has not revealed who bought the car, but it was prepared for Harry’s big day with the addition of a personalised numberplate: E190518.
The numbers are the date on which Harry and Meghan tied the knot.
The car is a zero-emissions, battery-electric-powered version of the 1968 car with LED head lamps.
Built between 1961 and 1975, the E-Type was described by Enzo
Ferrari as ‘the most beautiful car in the world’. This model is said to be worth £350,000.
Harry was following the example set by his brother, the Duke of Cambridge, who left Buckingham Palace with the former kate middleton after their wedding in 2011 in a vintage aston martin DB6.
grafftey-Smith left Jamiroquai in 2002 after ten years with the band, and lived on a farm in northamptonshire with his family.
a classically trained musician, he co-wrote songs for Jamiroquai, which sold 26million albums, with nine Top Ten singles and four Uk no. 1 albums.
grafftey-Smith had a total disregard for career plaudits, however, and lost one award in the back seat of a taxi.