FIT FOR THE Queen

This Daimler limousine was HM Queen Elizabeth II's first State car back when she was still a princess. Glen Waddington tells a royal tale

- Glen Waddington

It seems fitting that Daimler, by Royal Appointment since 1900 entitled to the legend 'Motor Car Manufacturers to HM the King', once made the biggest British car in production. Such was the claim in The Autocar in January 1948, though that was in a road test of the DE27, which, as the magazine admitted, was within a 'few inches in wheelbase and overall length' of the straight-eight-powered Daimler DE36 which made the DE27 the second biggest British car in production at the time. If not quite fit for the King, it was perfect for Princess Elizabeth. And the 1947 DE27 you see here was Her Royal Highness's first State limousine.

The young Princess had grown up with the Royal Daimlers not only of her father but also those of the generations above him, and in 1944, when she turned 18, he presented her with a 22-litre Daimler DB18 saloon. It wore the registration number JGY 280, which she transferred to every private car she ran thereafter. Princess Elizabeth gained a Military Provisional Driving Licence while serving in the Auxiliary Technical Service during 1945, and drove her DB18 regularly, even having it shipped to Malta when she was staying there.

But as the Princess's life became increasingly public, and her engagements more and more formal, so she began to attend in one of HM King George VI's own Lanchesters, or one of his rather special State Daimlers. And then Princess Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten. The RAF and WAAF raised money for a wedding gift and, as listed in the official documentation, presented the couple with 'a Steinway grand piano, and a cheque for The Princess Elizabeth's personal use.