Just one lady owner: the Queen Mother

SUNDAY DRIVER Jeremy Taylor enjoys the country around Blenheim in a Jaguar XJ12 used to more esteemed passengers

The only feature missing from this Jaguar is a royal standard. Rubber grommets have replaced a flagstaff on top of the bonnet but there remains a regal air about the 1973 XJ12 I’m steering out of Blenheim Palace.

This car was a replacement for the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s much-loved 1955 Jaguar MKVII. It was finished in the royal colour of claret and, uniquely, was fitted with a Vanden Plas interior usually found on the equivalent (more upmarket) Daimler.

It is unlikely HRH ever sat in the front, where her chauffeur had control of an enormous steering wheel and eight-track Radiomobile – a rare luxury in those days. Instead, she would have rested her feet on lamb’s wool carpets and waved to the crowd from a softly sprung rear seat.

The original XJ was a tremendous success for Jaguar, but the XJ12 was the world’s only V12-powered saloon when it was launched in 1972. A rival to RollsRoyce, the car set new standards of luxury and refinement that suddenly made it suitable for royalty.

Queen Elizabeth made several visits to Blenheim Palace at Woodstock, near Oxford. According to the visitor book she first signed in on Oct 28 1958 and made her last entry on Dec 14 1975 – most likely in this XJ12, arriving in time for Ma’am’s G&T. She was friendly with the Spencer- Churchill family, who have lived on the estate for more than 300 years. One of England’s largest houses, Blenheim was designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 1987 and is the birthplace and ancestral home of Sir Winston Churchill.

When Queen Elizabeth died in 2002, NLT 7 – now registered TGU 661L – returned from the Royal household to Jaguar on permanent loan. It is pampered like royalty by the Jaguar Heritage Trust, although I’m now putting a few miles on it around Oxfordshire.

Having looked in the glovebox for any misplaced tiaras, I set off at a leisurely pace to Bladon, nestled on the southern edge of the Blenheim estate. The village is bisected by the busy A4095 to Witney and is ill-prepared for the multitude of tourists who stop here. It’s not the pretty Cotswold stone cottages they come to see but St Martin’s churchyard, where Churchill was buried in 1965. Beside the simple grave is the resting place of his parents, Lord and Lady Randolph Churchill.

Nearby Witney is former prime minister David Cameron’s old constituency, so perhaps it’s no surprise that all roads seem to lead to Waitrose. The historic market town isn’t blessed with good car parks, making the supermarket an obvious place to find a spot large enough to accommodate the Jaguar.

Despite a rash of ventilation controls and dials on the dashboard, the XJ12’S cabin has steadily absorbed much of the heat from the enormous engine. One’s driver’s window is also broken, so I’m very happy to step out into the early afternoon Cotswold breeze.

Witney is more Miss Marple than This Country. Church Green is a welltended triangle of lawn and 18th-century town houses that features in most local postcards. Around the periphery, housing estates have slowly surrounded the heart of the town.

I suspect most tourists would head further west on the A40 dual carriageway towards pretty Burford. Instead, I’ve chosen the lesser-travelled B4022, north to Charlbury. This road could have been built for an armchair saloon like the Jaguar, with gentle bends that bypass pretty Ramsden and Finstock along the way.

The latter is home to the thatched Plough Inn, a proper local that is hard to find in the twee’d up Cotswolds these days. Apart from a log fire and bar billiards on a cold winter’s afternoon, there’s an Aunt Sally in the back garden and exceptional fish and chips.

Jaguar engineers had been hard at work on the design of a V12 engine since the mid-sixties. It launched in the Series 3 version of Jaguar’s famed E-type in early 1971 but was always intended for the XJ, turning in a top speed of 146mph. The smooth power of the 5.3-litre engine means that, even at 45 years old, the XJ12 is very capable of keeping up with modern traffic on the road today.

Untouched by A-roads, Charlbury is a town that seems to have escaped the mass building programme that has afflicted Witney. It’s just off the beaten track, tucked away on a back road to Chipping Norton (or “Chippy”, if you’re a local).

This is just the sort of place you would hope to find an excellent café and the Charlbury Deli doesn’t disappoint. Most of the produce comes from local suppliers and there’s a mean pastrami, Swiss cheese and gherkin sandwich on offer. The Bull Inn, meanwhile offers up flamboyant soft furnishings and Farrow & Ball colours.

I’ve found a hand-held vanity mirror and I can’t help wondering who else has looked into it