A few words about a great personality, who was probably the only person in the world who could drive around without a driver’s license (and number plate) all his life. Although she was trained as a truck driver and mechanic towards the end of the Second World War, she could even change tires and identify engine damage herself, but she never had the “rag”. That was probably because she simply didn’t need one. As passports, ID cards and, of course, driving licenses in the UK were issued in her name, the law did not require her to issue one herself.
Jackie Stewart turned 80 in 2019 and invited the Queen to his celebrations in London, but the invitation was unfortunately turned down by the Secretariat without their knowledge. The three-time F1 world champion then contacted her personally and very much regretted that she was staying away from the party. The queen astonished: “What party?” The Queen then became the guest of honor at Stewart’s birthday party.
Elizabeth ll loved a few horsepower more, that means most of all just one thing, the horse. Riding was one of her great passions, but she was still present at the GP premiere at Silverstone on May 13, 1950 and admired Giuseppe Farina’s victory in the powerful Alfa Romeo compressor. At the young age of 24, she attended the very first F1 GP in history and just two years later, in 1952, she was crowned Elizabeth ll. to the Queen of the United Kingdom. Even as queen, she kept in touch with racing and racing cars. Sir William Lyons, for example, showed her his fastest horse in the stable, the Jaguar D-Type.
In her long presence until September 8, 2022, she also honored four racing drivers. In addition to Jack Brabham and Jackie Stewart also Sir Stirling Moss, as the fastest never world champion and the now seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Stirling Moss was born from “Her Majesty Elizabeth ll.” promoted to “Sir”. When someone is knighted who never made it to champion, he must be a very special person. Sir Stirling Moss was probably the best racing driver who never made it to the world champion and went down in history as the eternal vice world champion.
In contrast to Lewis Hamilton, who leads the scepter together with Michael Schumacher with 7 titles. “Loisl”, as he is also known in the scene, was the fourth racing driver to be “knighted” by the Queen. According to several media reports, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson personally championed Hamilton after becoming world champion for the 7th time. Damon Hill saw the accolade not only as recognition for his sporting achievements as a racing driver, but also as a tribute to an athlete with a dark skin color “who pushed open the door for everyone who is not white”.
Land Rover, Range Rover, Jaguar, Bentley, Daimler and Rolls Royce, mainly British. The late Queen Elizabeth II. had an exquisite taste in cars and liked to drive often. Her husband, Prince Philip, loved the Land Rover more than anything. The prince’s last wish, to start his final journey in the back of a Land Rover Defender TD5 130, was granted.
Unfortunately, on September 8, 2022, a long and fashionable yet extremely colorful era came to an end with the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
