The Royal Family & Jaguar: A History Lesson
From limos to electrics based on classics, the Royals have employed Jaguars into their fleet for decades.
What is the first thing to come to mind when you think of Britain? If you’re on JaguarForums, of course you’ll think of one of the U.K.’s greatest exports. But what about the other great export, the Royal Family? Despite beating them twice in the formation of our country, today, they always have our attention, especially when a Jaguar is involved.
Not too long ago, YouTube channel Urgences Genève shot a video of the Royal Family’s Jaguar XJ limo going into and out of Buckingham Palace, accompanied by a pair of carriages and a fleet of London Police BMW motorcycles. It got us thinking about the relationship between the two entities, which led us to the post you’re reading now.
According to the Jaguar Heritage Trust, the relationship between the Royal Family and Jaguar began in the 1950s, when the company was pulling out all the stops to convince the Ministry of Supply to increase its allowance of British steel. Not long after winning that battle, the Mark VII arrived to drive up the company’s stock. The car caught the attention of the Queen Mother herself, Queen Elizabeth. Her car, a 1955 model, would be the first of many Jaguars produced for the family.
From 1970 to 2016, Jaguar’s then oldest dealership, R.A. Creamer & Son, supplied the Royals with Jaguars of all sorts for the happiest and saddest of occasions. In return, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles granted the dealer their respective Royal Warrants. Alas, the warrants were returned when R.A. Creamer & Son closed their doors in 2016, due to increasing demands on the part of Jaguar, according to The Telegram. Jaguar Land Rover itself holds all three warrants from the Queen, Prince Charles, and Prince Philip.
One of the vehicles likely supplied by the former dealer was this green X-Type Estate that took her to and from Buckingham Palace between 2009 and 2016, when she sold it.
Also: the Queen is the only one allowed to drive in the United Kingdom without a license; she picked up her driving skills as an ambulance driver in WWII, piloting quite a few Range Rovers, another favorite of the Royal Family. That said, she recently gave up taking the wheel on the advice of her security, following an accident involving her husband in January 2019, per The Sunday Times.
Speaking of classic Jaguars, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex rolled out of their wedding in May of 2018 in an E-Type. It wasn’t just any E-Type, though, but one converted into a fully electric vehicle. The E-Type Zero will soon be available to anyone with around $450,000 to spare, according to Harper’s Bazaar, with the first arriving to their homes in 2020.
Prince Charles is no stranger to Jaguar, as he’s always been a big fan of the big cat. His most recent acquisition happens to be an I-Pace in a one-off color dubbed Loire Blue, per British research company Motoring Research The electric Jaguar fits into the prince’s green vision, having been devoted to the environment for years.
The late Diana, Princess of Wales, caught the Jaguar bug herself. In her life, she drove this special XJ-SC. Per Motoring Research, while most SCs were two-seater soft-tops, hers had a rear seat for her two sons, while her bodyguard took shotgun. The car landed in the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust in 1991 in exchange for a charity contribution.
There’s nothing more British than the Royal Family rolling around their kingdom in a Jaguar. And while the sun has set on their empire, may it never set upon their love for the big cat.
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