There is a lot of talk these days about the cars of Queen Elizabeth II, the “sovereign mechanic” as she was called in some media because of the knowledge she had, because of her love of cars and driving, and that she never had a license…
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Isabel II he liked cars and driving. And she was good at it. Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, recounts that, in September 1998, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saúd had been invited to Balmoral, the queen’s summer residence, for lunch. After the stroke of his brother, King Fahd, in 1995, Abdullah was already the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. After the meal, the sovereign asked her guest if she would like to take a tour of the property. Initially hesitant Abdullah had ended up accepting. At the gate of the castle awaited the
Land Rover Defender of the Queen.
As instructed, the crown prince climbed into the front seat, with his interpreter in the back seat. To her surprise, the queen got behind the wheel and drove off. Women were still not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, and Abdullah was not used to being allowed to drive.
drive a woman, much less a queen. Her nervousness increased when the driver stomped on the accelerator of her Land Rover as she deftly steered the 4×4 down one of the classic narrow Scottish roads, all the while telling her about the surroundings. Through her interpreter, the crown prince, at one point, implored the driver to slow down…
Under the bombs V2
But our story begins years before, in World War II, in a London bombed by German V2s, when Princess Elisabeth, daughter of King George VI, enters the month of April 1945, just 18 years old, in the Auxiliary Territory Service, as an ambulance driver, after overcoming initial opposition from her father. She thus became
first woman of the British royal family in serving in the army.
Despite some initial reluctance from her father, the princess’s military service was very well received by the British public. The newspapers the
nicknamed “Princess Auto Mechanic”. It was not something free because, both the princess and her companions, not only had to get behind the wheel: the drivers also received training in mechanics, to carry out the maintenance of the vehicles and, also, to deal with at least basic repairs. Elisabeth had to drive one of the most popular ambulances in the British Army. It was an Austin K2/Y, a type of vehicle popularly known as a “Katy” by soldiers.
Very popular, the Austin ambulance was renamed the Katy by the soldiers/
Austin K2/Y
The K2 was developed from the Austin 30 truck, with a body designed to Royal Army Medical Corps guidelines and built by Mann Egerton. It had dimensions of 5.49 meters long, 2.21 wide, and 2.79 meters high. Its empty weight was 3,125 kilos, powered by a 3,462 cc six-cylinder gasoline engine with 60 horsepower. The gearbox was somewhat complicated to handle due to the jump between one gear and another. It had two gas tanks, 54 liters each. The
top speed was 50 miles per hourabout 80km/h.
The interior dimensions of the area intended for transporting the wounded were 2.6 meters long, 2.0 meters wide and 1.7 meters high. It was accessed through two large doors at the rear and, from the driver’s cabin, it was also possible to enter through a
small inner door with seat.
It was possible to transport 10 wounded, but there were those who, out of necessity, doubled this number /
was able to
transport ten wounded, adding the four stretchers and those who could sit down. But the need “extended” this potential. Thus, a veteran of the North African Campaign stated that he once managed to carry 27 wounded, sitting on the wings, the hood, the rear steps, and on additional stretchers suspended by rifles in the rear.
It was possible to transport 10 wounded, but there were those who, out of necessity, doubled this number /
from movie
In addition to in the field of warfare, a K2/Y had a
central role in the film 1958’s “Ice Cold in Alex” (“Desert Fugitives”) with John Mills, Sylvia Syms, Anthony Quayle and Harry Andrews. Directed by J. Lee Thompson, and based on the novel of the same name (1957) by British author Christopher Landon, it tells the story of a group of soldiers and nurses who, in the midst of World War II, cross the desert in an ambulance with the intention to reach Alexandria.
By the way, the vehicle used in that movie was
a unique special version built expressly on a Canadian Military Pattern chassis with 4-wheel drive. The standard two wheel drive K2 would not have been able to pull off some of the scenes in the movie. In any case, it is the image of Elizabeth II with Katy, the Austin ambulance, which has remained in history as one of the testimonies of an era that ended on September 8.
#Elizabeth #wheel #Katy