Princess Diana’s Ordinary Car Dubbed a ‘Very Brave Choice’
Princess Diana was “very brave” to drive an ordinary car. That is, according to a classic car specialist. Ahead, find out why one of Diana’s cars, in particular, didn’t fit in with the royal family’s car collection. Plus, what Prince William and Prince remember about being in cars with their late mother.
Princess Diana drove various cars through the years
Diana got behind the wheel of different cars during her life. The first car she owned, a blue Renault 5, she drove as an 18-year-old. Shortly after, when she turned 19, her car became well-known.
Diana drove a red 1980 Austin Mini Metro L when her relationship with Prince Charles became public. As such, it showed up in news reports and paparazzi footage. Later, Diana was spotted around London in a 1981 Ford Escort Ghia. An engagement gift from Charles, Diana became the owner of the car two months before her July 1981 royal wedding.
Diana’s cars also included a convertible 1994 Audi 80 Cabriolet and a Jaguar XJS Cabriolet she had customized to include additional rear seats for William and Harry.
A classic car specialist called Princess Diana’s Ford Escort a ‘very brave choice’
Diana drove numerous cars over the years, but it was her Ford Escort a classic car specialist dubbed “a very brave choice.” Before Diana’s RS Turbo Series 1 Escort went to auction in August 2022, Arwel Richards, a classic car specialist at Silverstone Auctions, explained to Reuters why it was a bold move.
“All the other members of the royal family would be driving around London in the back … of an official car … and she’s driving in a car … that you would see on a housing estate, not outside the palace,” Richards explained.
The vehicle, which belonged to Diana between 1985 and 1988, typically appeared on the road in white. However, at the request of the royal family police guard, Diana’s received a black paint job “for discretion,” the auctioneers said via Reuters.
Diana’s car went to auction where it sold for $764,000.
Prince William and Prince Harry have different memories of driving with their mother
Looking back on their childhoods, William and Harry shared their very different memories of car rides with their late mother. In Apple Fitness+’s Time to Walk, William, now 40, recalled singing along to Tina Turner’s “The Best” on the way to boarding school with Harry.
Diana “used to play all sorts of songs to kind of while away the anxiety of going back to school,” he began. “And one of the songs I massively remember and has stuck with me all this time, and I still, to this day, still quite enjoy secretly, is Tina Turner’s ‘The Best’ because sitting in the backseat, singing away, it felt like a real family moment.”
Diana would be “singing at the top of her voice,” William continued. And, as he remembered, their police protection officer would “occasionally” sing along too.
“You’d be singing and listening to the music right the way out into the gates of school when they dropped you off,” he said. “When I listen to it now, it takes me back to those car rides and brings back lots of memories of my mother.”
Meanwhile, Harry recalled tearful car rides in 2021’s Apple TV+ docuseries, The Me You Can’t See. “Unfortunately, when I think about my mum, the first thing that comes to mind is always the same one over and over again,” he told Oprah Winfrey. “Strapped in a car, with a seat belt across with my brother in the car as well and my mother driving, being chased by three, four, five mopeds with paparazzi on.”
“And then she was almost unable to drive because of the tears. There was no protection,” he added, recalling feelings of “helplessness” in those moments. “Being a guy but being too young to help a woman, in this case, your mother. And that happened every single day.”
