A British icon, a symbol of style but also of functionality, able to move in the streets of central London or in muddy countryside, always maintaining its typically British aplomb. There Land Roverin particular with the models in the Range range, it has always been able to perfectly mix the off-road vocation of the brand with qualities of elegance and comfort. Such as to have made the home SUVs the favorite cars of Queen Elizabeth II. Even today, after 70 years of reign, the English sovereign continues to move with the cars of the House of Gaydon, such as the new Range Rover protagonist of our test on the new issue of Auto.
Land Rover, 70 years with the Queen
Queen Elizabeth’s garage hosted and still hosts a long list of luxury cars, strictly British: from the Rolls-Royce Phantom V to the Bentley State Limousine, passing through Jaguar, Aston Martin and, above all, Land Rover. Her Majesty, in fact, in the course of her life has owned about thirty cars of her house, mainly Defender. A long-standing passion, that of the Queen for Land Rovers: the first, a Series 1, dates back to 1953. Since then, the brand’s cars have often accompanied Elizabeth II, her spouse and her family in her daily activities, from hunting trips to outings with grandchildren, to trips to the City. Until the funeral of Prince Philip, which he had made a customized Defender TD5 130 just to carry your coffin.
Being transported, but also driving: the Queen obviously has numerous drivers available, but he also loves getting behind the wheel himself. It is not uncommon, in fact, to come across shots in which the sovereign is in the driving seat of some of her cars. Of course, even in this case, Land Rovers are always the preferred choice. After all, no one, apart from age, can prevent Elizabeth from driving: according to English conventions, the Queen does not need a driving license, and can move freely even without a license plate.
Her Majesty began her career as a driver during the Second World War, when she was commissioned to manage an emergency truck for the women’s auxiliary territorial service. Since then she has never wanted to give up the pleasure of driving, not even when the duties of ruler have arisen. Even after turning 90 and celebrated its “platinum jubilee”.
Land Rover Defender, the electric restomod has the Tesla engine
From the first off-road vehicle to the new Range Rover
Precisely for the 70 years of the reign of Elizabeth II, celebrated with the jubilee at the beginning of June, Jaguar-Land Rover organized a parade of iconic vehicles in which, among others, some cars featured in the 007 films took part. In addition to the unmissable Land Rovers so loved by the Queen, including the first model made by the House and unveiled at the Amsterdam Motor Show in 1948. The procession followed the same path as the one that celebrated Elizabeth’s coronation 70 years ago, from The Mall to Buckingham Palace. On that occasion, Land Rover donated a Defender 130 to the British Red Cross.
Today the range of the Gaydon house has been enriched with another new chapter, the fifth generation Range Rover. A leap forward both in (Italian) design and in construction quality and attention to detail. We tried the mild hybrid Diesel version, the D250 Autobiography, which excels in everything. Even in the… price!
The full test of the new Range Rover is on new number of Auto on newsstands.