Skip to main content

Driving fit for a queen

The British queen is known as an enthusiastic driver, particularly for off-roading, but despite never having held a licence or sat a driving test. A legal anomaly means she has been able to drive without a licence although she did undergo training by the British Army when she served as a driver during WWII. Her off road driving skills are well known, particularly when at the wheel of her favoured Land Rovers. On one occasion during a formal visit by a previous Saudi king, he was surprised when she sat behin
December 14, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
The British queen is known as an enthusiastic driver, particularly for off-roading, but despite never having held a licence or sat a driving test. A legal anomaly means she has been able to drive without a licence although she did undergo training by the British Army when she served as a driver during WWII. Her off road driving skills are well known, particularly when at the wheel of her favoured Land Rovers. On one occasion during a formal visit by a previous Saudi king, he was surprised when she sat behind the wheel of her Land Rover. Unused to being driven by a woman as females are forbidden to do so in his country, let alone a queen, he was perturbed at the pace she chose to drive at along the roads of the private estate. He repeatedly told his translator to ask her to slow down. They arrived at their destination unharmed but it is not known if he ever repeated the experience.

Related Content

  • Stuck in a jam
    March 21, 2012
    An American woman suffered an embarrassing situation after she tried to escape a traffic jam by making a u-turn. The impatient woman drove her shiny Lexus onto a patch of wet concrete laid moments before by construction workers. The vehicle then sank up to its axles in the concrete, leaving her unable to drive further.
  • Alcohol interlocks for vehicles could cut crashes in Europe?
    February 26, 2018
    There have been calls for mandatory alcohol interlocks in vans, lorries and buses across the EU. This follows the publishing of a new report which shows that more than 5000 deaths/year in the EU are still caused by drink-driving. As a result, member States have been asked to increase enforcement and introduce rehabilitation programmes for drink-driving offenders. The devices should be fitted in all new professional vehicles and also retrofitted to cars used by repeat drink-driving offenders, according to
  • Well-educated personnel are the best investment for the future says the Ammann international training centre
    May 20, 2014
    Far too often, managers will view training as a luxury and not as a competitive and strategic necessity. Lazy team leaders regularly argue that it is a waste of time and money training their people, not least because these same trainees might subsequently leave the organisation. Courses are seen as an interruption, and a good way to delay things. There is always something much more pressing and important on the to-do list and staff can end up feeling forced into the training department. But these are weak a
  • Attitude is key to sustainability, says Volvo CE’s Thomas Bitter
    June 27, 2018
    Whether you are in the global Volvo Ocean Race or working on-site locally, sustainability is about attitude as much as technology. David Arminas reports. Technology, sustainability and safety. We ignore these often related themes at our peril. This was the key point made by Volvo Group chief executive Martin Lundstedt during his brief opening presentation at the start of the Building Tomorrow Conference in Spain last October. The conference took place within the harbour of Alicante that was bustling wit