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| One of photographer Cecil Beaton's remarkable portraits of the young Queen Elizabeth, on the day of her coronation in 1953 |
Its said that in private, she prefers dazzling cascades of jewels adorning her person rather than the hatted Easter-egg ensembles she wears on parade, and who can blame her, with access to all the diamonds in the Tower of London...she's just using them 'as the maker intended', eh? On her Diamond Jubilee, let us celebrate Elizabeth II, Queen of England, for the most unexpected of reasons; she is truly One of Us. No, you and I aren't inheritors of vast acreages and a guaranteed income from the British gov't, but we do have something in common.
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| Princess Elizabeth, future Queen of England, riding a BSA C10 |
Her recently-married grandson Prince William has been a motorcyclist for years, sneaking out of Buckingham palace on a new Ducati Monster behind a darkened face shield for a blast around the streets of London (and, we hope, further flung castle regions - London traffic sucks). Motorcycling is typically an inherited disease, and in the case of the Royal Family, it would seem the compulsion skipped a generation, because his father Charles, not known as a risk-taker, was certainly no biker.
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| Princess Elizabeth in another Cecil Beaton portrait, aged 19...a fetching young lady |
But his grandmother was. Yep, the Queen could hop on William's Ducati and have a blast, if she chose, as she has experience as a rider of motorcycles. Granted, she may not have actually ridden since the dark days of the Blitz, but then-Princess Elizabeth 'did her part' during WW2, joining the military training scheme
ATS (Auxiliary Training Service) at age 19, learning (or at lest being photographed learning) to change truck tires, finger spark plugs, and - one thing which can't be faked for the photographers - riding a military-spec
BSA C10 250cc through a training course of whitewashed petrol tins.
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| Princess Elizabeth getting her hands dirty... |
Giving Beat icon
Juliette Gréco a run for her money in 'workwear chic', Elizabeth looks almost Bohemian in her black mechanic's jumpsuit, rubber Wellingtons, and jaunty beret. Her calm demeanor in the photo says it all; the Queen is cool.
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| The future Queen of England changing a truck tire.. |
The 'QEII motophoto' was supplied by journalist/biker Prosper Keating, who, after hearing of Elizabeth's motorcycling skills, managed to dig up the goods. He supplied the negative to the Queen, who wrote back in her own hand, grateful that she could show her grandchildren that she was 'once cool'. Thanks Prosper! |
| Prince William on his Ducati 1198, one of many motorcycles he owns. His security team is vexed trying to keep up with him! Photo from the Telegraph of London |
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| Prince Charles in his duty as Royal ambassador to everything...tweaking the horn of a ca.1926 Norton M.18. Charles' father, the Duke of Edinburgh, was also a rider, and a frequent visitor to the Isle of Man... |
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| Bad boy Prince Harry, the proper candidate for Bikerdom in the Royal Family, has a bit of fun on an abandoned bike in the desert during one of his military tours |
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| Let's not forget further branches of the Royal Family have long been supporters of Motorcycling...here HRH the Duke of York inspects one of the Two racers he entered at the Brooklands Royal Meeting on May 20, 1922. Rider S.E.Wood sits aside a Trump with an 8-valve Anzani 994cc engine...just about the hottest kit imaginable in '22. The Duke was himself a rider, but did not race. The other machine that day was an OHV Douglas. |
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| The uncropped photo from 'The Motor Cycle' in 1941; the article doesn't mention Princess Elizabeth, but sharp-eyed readers knew the story! |
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Some additional info on the 'Motorcycling Windsors' from reader Allan Johnson:
"Two more pictures of Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI) and his motorcycling career. The first is taken at the Brooklands meeting where he sponsored his chauffeur, S.E.Wood on the 994cc Trump-Anzani.  |
| Albert, the Duke of York (and future King George VI) sponsors his chauffeur, Mr.Wood, on the 994cc Trump-Anzani 8-valve |
The second was taken while he was a student at Cambridge U. after WWI. Albert did learn motorcycling on a WWI Royal Navy Triumph around 1916 at the time he served in a battleship gunnery officer during the Battle of Jutland. After he left Cambridge and went to London, he had a sidecar outfit, probably a Douglas, as he had taken up golf and travelled out to the links with the golf clubs in the sidecar. His father, King George V, was unhappy with Albert using a motorcycle, considering that "gentlemen" should be chauffeured in a car.  |
| Albert, Duke of York, riding a Douglas |
Albert then turned to racing sponsorship during the early days of the Brooklands track. At the same meeting where he sponsored Wood on the Temple-Anzani; he also had a Douglas entered but I have no info on whether it was raced, or who by. After Albert's marriage to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyons his personal driving was in Lanchester cars. Of course his daughter, Queen Elizabeth, still drives herself when on her estates and a former Canadian Governor-General has stories of her and her family on a visit to Balmoral, of being chauffeured to a family BBQ in a new Range Rover driven rather rapidly by the Queen herself. Both pictures appeared in 'Motorcycling', the British Weekly edited by Graham Walker, in Feb, 1952 at the time of King George's death"
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