Ultimate OPULENCE

As we cruise through open countryside, the road bathed in summer sunshine, I nestle even more comfortably into the sumptuous seat. A walnut-clad chauffeur’s division is in front of me, two leg lengths away, together with a pair of folding occasional seats, beautiful fold-out tables, a TV, and a well-stocked drinks cabinet containing no fewer than four bottles and four crystal glasses. I press my feet against a footrest covered in the finest quality carpet, and I open the electrically-operated glass sliding roof allowing the balmy air outside to ruffle my hair. I’m on my way to nowhere, enjoying everywhere.

This is how heads of state and royalty were transported in the 1970s, cocooned from the outside world and revelling in the ultimate regal transport. I’m a passenger in a Phantom VI, the final figurehead of the coachbuilt Rolls-Royce tradition – the last of the separate-chassis models featuring hand-crafted bodywork by one of the great coachbuilders. Its eventual demise marked the end of an era for Britain’s most prestigious marque, bringing to an end a line that had begun with the original Phantom, launched in 1925 as the replacement for the legendary 40/50hp ‘Silver Ghost’.

As the final separate-chassis Rolls-Royce, the Phantom VI was announced in 1968. When