Rolls-Royce Phantom

BRITAIN'S GREATEST MASTERPIECES

- Jack Watkins

A FLEETING memory from childhood is of lining up among a group of schoolmates, waving tiny Union Flags as The Queen swept by in her limousine. Unfortunately, the emotion of the occasion was one of disappointment, as the monarch turned her head to wave to children on the other side of the road and the royal chauffeur was driving way too fast for us to catch more than a blur of pink. Having waited for an eternity, she was gone in a moment.

However, the shining black conveyance itself was visually stunning, a veritable black beauty. This would have been a Phantom V or Phantom VI State Landaulette, with especially high-sided windows that were intended to grant watching crowds a good view of their Queen and which were part of a series of Rolls-Royce models inextricably associated with the Windsors.

The most exclusive of the series was the Rolls-Royce Phantom IV, made by the company between 1950 and 1956. Reportedly, only 18 were ever made, reserved for royals and heads of state around the world, including the Shah of Iran, the Aga Khan III and King Faisal II of Iraq. Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh had taken ownership of the very first one in 1950. It was fitted with a specially modified driver's seat, with concern for the height of the Duke, who had made it known that he intended to take the wheel himself on occasion. It was painted in royal claret and black two years later for The Queen's first public engagement following the death of George VI, when she was driven in the Phantom to attend the Maundy Service at Westminster Abbey on April 10, 1952. The vehicle would remain in royal service for more than 40 years.