The curious appeal of old Land Rovers

When the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived at Holyrood House to watch a drive-in screening of the Disney film Cruella with NHS staff last month, the Daily Telegraph reported that the couple ‘paid tribute to the late Duke of Edinburgh’ by travelling in one of his ‘beloved’ Land Rovers – which, as any Landy fan will tell you, was a long wheelbase station wagon in Bronze Green with glass ‘alpine lights’ in the roof and, unusually, a colour-co-ordinated hard top and bumper.

Judging by the royal couple’s un-dishevelled appearance – he in a dark two-piece, white shirt, no tie; she in a belted, ankle-length coat of muted blue tartan with military style buttons – they hadn’t travelled far and nor, I imagine, would they have wanted to. Though highly polished and undoubtedly beloved, the 1966, Series IIA demonstrated a characteristic sag to the right, giving the impression that William might have fallen victim to lockdown obesity.