► The cars of the royal wedding
► Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
► A classy roster of British cars on duty
The royal wedding of the year has passed by in a blur of sunshine, celebrity and royal pomp – but there’s been ample chance for the car spotters among us to get excited too.
The nuptials of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were never going to be too traditional and boring; their bias towards Hollwood sparkle and cheeky modernism meant there were one or two surprises in their choices of four-wheeled transport.
Yes, there was the usual blend of armoured Range Rovers (below) with police outriders taking dignitaries around Berkshire in the build-up to the wedding. This shot below captures the happy couple arriving at Windsor Castle on Friday evening in a blastproof 4×4.
But it was the choice of the Jaguar E-type Concept Zero for the evening reception that really caught our eye. Originally made in 1968, this E-type was re-engineered to drive on electric power and the choice of a zero-emissions Jag roadster was a classy, meaningful gesture to a more modern approach.
If classical traditionalism is your thing, there was plenty of that too. The state 1950 Rolls-Royce Phantom IV (below) was dusted down from the royal collection to take Markle from the Cliveden House Estate to her wedding at Windsor Castle.
It was the first of just 18 built and looked suitably smart for the occasion in its curvaceous bodywork fashioned by coachbuilders at Mulliner.
Gavin Green rates the cars of Wills’ and Kate’s wedding in 2011
It wasn’t a complete Britfest. A fleet of black Mercedes-Benz V-class people carriers (below) was deployed to drop off some senior members of the royal family at Windsor Castle on the morning of Saturday 19 May 2018.
And the head of press relations at Audi was in fact a guest at the wedding, reflecting Ingolstadt’s connection with the royal family. It’s not just British cars that power the royal family – a neat metaphor for the dynasty that is in fact a mash-up of aristocratic European bloodlines.
The choice of V-class was interesting: domestic van manufacturer Vauxhall does in fact make a people-carrying version of the Vivaro at its nearby Luton factory. Seems that the royal brothers wanted something a bit more upmarket in which to arrive at the Windsor venue…
Which was your favourite car of the royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in May 2018? Be sure to comment below!
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