L-plates Queen was a hit behind wheel

The article about how the Queen learned to drive while in the ATS during World War II struck a chord with me. My late father Reginald Luke Williams was one of only a handful of men transferred to the same unit as the then Princess elizabeth. he became her personal driving instructor and vehicle maintenance instructor. his favourite story was that he was the only man to have ‘hit’ the future Queen and still retain his head! he would tap her on the leg if she left her foot on the clutch or on the hand if she rested it on the gear stick. ‘I would go up to the big house to collect her for lessons in the vehicle she was being trained on that day,’ he would relate to us.

‘One time the then Queen answered the door and invited me in for a cup of tea as the Princess was not quite ready.’ In the 1950s, elizabeth II visited hereford where my father lived. he was invited to the town hall reception to meet her again.

On seeing him, she shook his hand, saying: ‘hello, Reg, or should I say Mr Williams, and how are you?’ he repeated the story to me so often I remember it word for word.