Weekend feature: With the Queen's car

Working as I did for Rolls-Royce for many years, on occasions I was involved in looking after the fleet of cars sometimes used by the royal family.

Back in 1983, I received a request to drive a Rolls-Royce Phantom to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, as Her Majesty was heading there on a State Visit. It sounded an interesting job, and someone had to do it!

I picked up the limousine in London and headed to Hull for the ferry. The Queen, in the meantime, was travelling by the Royal Yacht Britannia and I had to be on the quayside at Stockholm harbour before her.

The journey out was uneventful and, after a lengthy drive across Sweden, I was met by the Swedish security team for the Royal visit, a fine group of officers, who made me very welcome.

As the time for the visit arrived, I was asked by a senior policeman if I would like to watch Britannia's arrival from an unusual vantage point. I immediately agreed and was soon being hoisted up in a small platform on the highest 'cherry picker' I have ever seen. The view was amazing.

Britannia, escorted by a Royal Navy destroyer, made a magnificent sight as she steamed into Stockholm and my chest was almost exploding with patriotism as the quayside band struck up the National Anthem as Britannia drew alongside. You have to be there to appreciate the amazing impact of Royal visits like this.

The Queen and the King of Sweden and the Royal parties swept off, initially in a magnificent horse-drawn carriage procession with me and the Rolls-Royce plus a small group of policeman following behind. A reception followed for the Royals but I am glad to say a parallel reception for those helping with the visit was held where I was able to enjoy Swedish hospitality at its best.

That evening, it was off to the Opera with a Swedish official driving the Rolls-Royce and me in close attendance. After the Royal party had entered the theatre, I was asked if I would like to see the opera and was escorted to not quite the Royal Box, but one up on that, the Gods!

I had to keep close to the car throughout the visit, making sure it was in sparkling order throughout. The Swedish police team looked after me quite splendidly and even, on a quiet day in the official programme, took me on a tour of the surrounding countryside.

All too soon, the visit was over and I was heading back to Malmo, with a police escort, to catch the return ferry. We had a few problems when the ferry looked in at Denmark, a country then with incredibly high taxes on imported cars, and a customs officer seemed to think I was trying to smuggle the Phantom into his country.

That sorted after a considerable delay, the ferry eventually arrived at Immingham, Lincolnshire many hours behind schedule with both the company and my family wondering where I was.

So I wasn't in the best of moods when stopped by a particularly officious member of Her Majesty's Customs & Excise as I drove the Phantom back on to British soil.
"Does the car belong to you?" he demanded
"No" I responded.
"Who does it belong to?" he asked, not too politely.
"To your boss," I replied.
"My boss?' he spluttered.
"Yes, the Her Majesty bit in your organisation's name," I retorted with a sense of triumph.
At which he snorted, said not a word, stepped into his box and in what appeared to be not the politest way possible, waved me through!

Eventually I was back home in Audlem and took the family out for a meal in The Lord Combermere, possibly the only time a Phantom has been parked there on the car park. My daughter, who was very young then, was so tired she went to sleep on the back seat for a time, just in the spot, I told her, where the Queen had been sitting a few days earlier.

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