Wills & Kate take Charles DB6 Volante for a spin down the Mall
Prince Charles’ Aston Martin DB6 Volante was Wills & Kate’s going away car at the Royal Wedding, a day which showcased great British cars.
As gifts on a wedding day go – even a Royal Wedding Day – using your dad’s prized Aston Martin DB6 Volante to whisk your new bride away is quite special.
With the agreement of the Prince of Wales, Prince Harry managed to fit out Prince Charles’ DB6 Volante with ribbons and bows and a JU5T WED number plate so the newly apponted Duke of Cambridge could whisk the Duchess of Cambridge away after the reception at Buckingham Palace.
Although ‘whisk away’ is perhaps a bit too rash a statement, when they only managed to go a few hundred yards down the Mall to Clarence House for a break before the evening’s festivities. But that’s not the point. It was a very cool way to go.
One of only 140 Aston Martin DB6 Volantes built, the 1970 car – probably one of the very last built – would have cost the Queen less than £6,000 when she bought it for Prince Charles 21st birthday. But as the DB6 has a late 1970 registration plate, and Prince Charles was 21 in 1969, we guess it took Aston Martin the best part of a year to deliver the heir to the throne’s birthday gift.
More than 40 years on the Aston Martin DB6 Volante is probably more cool than its ever been, and wrapped up the Royal Wedding day from a car lover’s perspective perfectly. And what a day it was for British cars at the Royal Wedding, with every major domestic car of note getting shoved in front of a world-wide audience of some 2 billion.
Apart from the super cool Aston Martin, we saw the bride’s mum in a Jaguar XJL, Prince William and Prince Harry in a Bentley Limousine (with the Queen and Prince Philip in the other Bentley Limousine), Prince Charles in a 1950 Rolls Royce Phantom IV, Kate and her dad in a Rolls Royce Phantom VI and every protection officer the Met could muster in close attendance in a Range Rover.
The day was the very best of British. Makes you proud.
percy says
Absolutely right on the DB6. Not only is it very cool indeed, but the DB6 Volante is the pick of the sixties Aston Martins by a very big margin.