Myth Buster
Debunking the most common old wives’ tales
HM Queen’s State Limousine
1 IT’S A ROLLS-ROYCE
HM the Queen is so closely associated with Rolls-Royce that it’s easy to forget how many other brands are by Royal appointment, such as Land Rover and Aston Martin. Not even the official Mulliner-bodied State Limousine is a Roller these days, even though, it’s commonly mistaken for such with its prominent grille and sweeping Rolls-Royce-ish rear. Bentley actually supplied it for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002. Still, there is a Rolls-Royce link – it uses the traditional L Series V8 engine, as first seen in 1959, albeit with a 6.75-litre capacity and 397bhp.
2 IT’S UNIQUE
Well, the design may be, but the Royal Mews keeps two identical versions. Because they don’t carry numberplates, it’s next to impossible to tell which is which. However, there is one significant-if-temporary difference. Although they sport the usual Bentley ‘Flying B’ radiator mascot, when being used by the Queen, this is replaced by a representation of Saint George slaying the dragon. Unless the car is in Scotland, in which case it’s a lion mascot. They obviously don’t like dragon-slaying north of the border.
3 IT’S A GAS-GUZZLER
Probably not quite as much as you’d expect. 6.75-litre V8s don’t exactly sip fuel, with 15mpg a typical average consumption figure for similar-engined Bentleys, albeit 1.5 tons lighter than the Queen’s machines (although they did at least use LPG). However, both were converted to run on plant-based biofuel in 2009, offering a 40 per cent improvement on previous figures, at Her Majesy’s request. It all helps make her a greener Queen… Richard Gunn