- Two coaches, one old and one new, will carry the new king and queen consort during this weekend’s coronation ceremony in London.
- British coronations have used the Gold State Coach for hundreds of years, but the Diamond Jubilee State Coach is really comfortable to ride.
- The Gold State Coach indirectly led to the creation of Matchbox cars 70 years ago. This year, Bentley, Škoda and Williams Racing are some of the brands involved in the event.
The last time a new British royal ascended the throne — Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953 — ended up indirectly leading to the creation of Matchbox cars. Whether or not the current coronation of King Charles III will have that kind of impact on the toy car scene, there are plenty of automotive angles to a royal coronation.
Like the story of Matchbox, which begins for our purposes when a pair of metal toy car makers in London found great success by selling a million miniature models of the ornate Gold State Coach (pictured in above). This 260-year-old carriage has been used at every coronation since William IV’s in 1831, so toymakers tipped off that it would be used for Queen Elizabeth II. They released two models around the time of his coronation, and the smaller of the two became incredibly popular, selling a million copies.
When the daughter or one of the modelers later wanted a small toy that could fit inside a matchbox, you can probably guess what he built for her. Mattel, which now owns the Matchbox brand, reminded us of this story by now offering a dramatically updated, limited edition model of the Gold State Coach. The model costs $60 and is in the same 1/64 scale, so it will fit perfectly into your Matchbox collection.
The real world Gold State Coach is a beast. More than 20 feet long and 12 feet high, the coach can’t move faster than a walking pace, even with a full complement of eight horses, because it weighs four tons. The royals have complained about how uncomfortable it is to ride the Gold State Coach, which partly explains why there will be other vehicles involved in the coronation ceremony.
The Diamond Jubilee State Coach.
Buckingham Palace has also confirmed that the Diamond Jubilee State Coach (above) will be used at today’s ceremony. This coach uses six horses and is not as old as the Gold State Coach; the Diamond Jubilee State Coach was first used in 2014. Although it still looks dated, it is a modern design with an aluminum body, hydraulic stabilizers, electric windows and an air conditioning system. It was built in Australia.
Other cars in the stable
There are a dozen vehicles in the Royal Collection that could appear on any Saturday, between the ceremonies and the parade, including Bentley State Limousines and three Rolls-Royces (a 1977 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI, a 1986 Phantom VI and a 1950 Phantom IV). The only vehicles confirmed for the event, however, are the two coaches.
King Charles steps out of the Bentley State Limousine.
There are many other automotive connections, especially from UK brands. Williams Racing will display the coronation emblem on the noses of two of its F1 cars during the Miami Grand Prix this weekend. Škoda UK is offering a new Royal Green exterior paint color on selected models.
Williams Racing crown emblem on the nose of the FW45.
Bentley Coronation Cushions, shown on an Azure.
And Bentley will offer a limited number of these bespoke, handcrafted cabin cushions to celebrate the coronation. The cushions have 30,000-stitch embroidered coronation emblems on leather “sourced from northern Europe, where the temperate climate and lack of barbed wire fences reduce imperfections.” The cushions are intended to decorate the Bentley press cars and will not be sold.
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Collaborating editor
Sebastian Blanco has been writing about electric vehicles, hybrids and hydrogen cars since 2006. His articles and car reviews have appeared in New York Times, Automotive News, Reuters, SAE, Autoblog, InsideEVs, Trucks.com, Car Talk and other outlets. His first green car media event was the launch of the Tesla Roadster, and since then he has been tracking the shift to gasoline vehicles and discovering the importance of new technology not only for the automotive industry. automobile, but for the whole world. . Throw in the recent shift to self-driving vehicles, and more interesting changes are happening now than most people might realize. You can find him on Twitter or, on good days, behind the wheel of a new EV.
