His Majesty Was Gifted A Rolls-Royce. What Will King Charles Think?

It’s not unknown for UHNWs to gift expensive cars to friends and relatives on special occasions.

One very special occasion, May 6, 2023, was the Coronation of King Charles III. And Buckingham Palace recently released records of gifts received by members of the Royal family, including for His Majesty’s coronation.

A standout was a Rolls-Royce Cullinan 2, given by the King of Bahrain, to be used on official occasions by King Charles and Queen Camilla.

But what can Charles expect when the Rolls whispers out of the royal mews to convey he and his wife to an event, ensconced in the luxury rear seats of the likely £400,000 ($541,000) SUV — colour currently unknown, specification very special, likelihood of Rolls-Royce revealing said spec, or even confirming the car exists: zero.

So who better to consult than King, Charles? Note the comma…

Charles King, 37, is an Audit Supervisor with HW Fisher, part of the Sumer Group, a top-15 accountancy practice working with entrepreneurial clients and family offices, as well as big names in business, politics, sport and the creative sector.

There’s little doubt some of those clients will also be Rolls-Royce owners — and the chances of finding out who they are is also zero.

Getting Noticed In A Pink-With-Hint-Of-Orange Rolls-Royce

I asked Charles and his wife, Poppy — who are new parents to daughter Darcy, by the way — to give me their impressions of what King Charles (no comma…) might experience in the highly-practical Cullinan, this one in a fun and attention-grabbing shade of “Morganite”, a dusky pink with a hint of orange.

We set out on an hour-long drive around South London.

“It’s just so comfortable, we just don’t feel the bumps that are all over the place on London roads,” said Charles.

But I had to move fast — with the questions, not the driving: “I could easily fall asleep in the back here,” said Poppy, “it’s so quiet and relaxing, and I can just kick off my shoes and sink into the carpet.

“I love the stars in the roof,” referring to the Cullinan’s “Starlight Headliner“, which, with pinprick lights can represent the constellation for any date the client specifies, so His Majesty might well be looking at the stars as they were on May 6, 2023. We’ll likely never know. Chances of Rolls-Royce telling us? You guessed…

An Incredible Sense Of Occasion

King, Charles, added: “It’s an incredible sense of occasion. People are looking at us, and I’ll be honest, it feels really nice, heads going round as far as they can when we go by, trying to take it in. But in an inquisitive sort of way: ‘did you see that?’ sort of looks.

“It’s an experience to know they think you’re someone important, that’s part of the fun, part of the mystery. Driving through Wimbledon Village (a super-trendy area of South London near the world-famous All England Tennis Club) everybody sitting outside every cafe followed us with their eyes.

“Very, very comfortable, plenty of leg room, very quiet,” said Charles.

“If I was Queen Camilla, I’d be slipping my shoes off and sinking my feet into that carpet,” said Poppy.

King, Charles: “The screen in the back of the seat in front of me: very handy. King Charles could do some work, or watch himself live on TV.”

And at the end of the drive Poppy was, indeed, ready to nod off: “Do you mind if we stay here?” she asked.

Practicality And The $540,000-Plus SUV

King Charles is the practical type, so the big SUV format might well suit his and Queen Camilla’s lifestyles.

So, to the real-world practicality test.

But, first, let’s get the numbers out of the way: it’s 5341mm long (17ft 6ins), 2164mm wide (7ft), 1835mm tall (6ft), and weighs somewhere just short of 3,000kgs (3.3 tons) with fuel and a couple of people on board. If you need to ask about fuel consumption, then this isn’t a car for you. Power? In the V12 6.75 litre Black Badge version 591bhp and 900Nm of torque. Translation: enough, deploying Rolls-Royce’s line, to be effortless everywhere, including offroad. Rolls-Royce does not pretend to be anything other than a luxury brand delivering what its clients want…

This car is big, in every sense.

What better way to assess its practicalities than to subject it to some “normal” family life?

I live in England, my daughter Charlotte in London, son Ben in Los Angeles. Wife Pam won’t let us drive past a garden centre without buying something.

The plan, after staying the night before at the Richmond Hill Hotel, Richmond-upon-Thames, was to drop 29-year-old Ben at Heathrow for his Virgin Atlantic flight back to California.

Suddenly, everything happened all at once.

With a 530pm flight out of Heathrow, the day was due to be relaxed. We booked a leisurely breakfast at nearby Petersham Nurseries, after, of course, buying some plants. And then, in the time it took to nip to the loo, the day changed: the family decided there was time to “nip down to Woking” to collect some of Ben’s stuff in storage, and forgotten, but accumulating cost — a two-hour return trip.

So far, so OK. Ish…

The Car That Exudes Chill

In summary, it was a lot of stuff, and the Cullinan’s load area was already occupied by Ben’s suitcase and our overnight bags. But this car is cavernous, and with one rear seat lowered, electrically, of course, it swallowed the lot.

Then fastball #2: one of our bags had been left in the hotel reception area. It had to be retrieved. Relaxed started to become urgent as the Cullinan’s satnav informed traffic was horrendous (it’s London…), and we’d be lucky to get to LHR, via hotel, 90 minutes before the flight.

But if there was ever a car designed to make you chill under any circumstances, it’s a Rolls-Royce. Sitting in London traffic I pondered just what makes this car exude calm.

It’s not just the utter luxury; it’s almost impossible to instil or provoke urgency in a Rolls. The accelerator pedal is tuned such that pulling away from standstill is always, unless you really plant your foot, smooth and unfussed.

So you’ll understand if you see a Cullinan passing by with dozing King Charles and Camilla in the back, just why they’re so relaxed.

Although I doubt they’ll have a bunch of Prince William’s boxes in the trunk…