By Classic Yorkshire contributor Tony Lofthouse
A 15-year-old Land Rover Defender delivered new to King Charles, when he was HRH Prince of Wales, has sold for over £67,000 at auction.
The 2010-registered Defender 90 was supplied to his Royal Highness by Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicles and was often driven by Charles around his Highgrove home in Gloucestershire.
The car is finished in Keswick Green and came with five-spoke 16-inch alloy wheels. Inside, heated front seats were especially added for the future king.
The royal Defender was powered by a 2.4 litre diesel engine and came to sale with just 24,595 miles on the clock.
It was a favourite of Charles and formed part of a small Royal Collection of dedicated vehicles.
Iconic Auctioneers had placed a guide price of between £42,000 and £50,000 on the Defender ahead of its sale at the Practical Classic Classic Car and Restoration Show in Birmingham, but it topped that at auction by some distance.
The last Land Rover Defender rolled off the production line in Solihull in 2016. The car took the ‘Defender’ name back in 1990 but the vehicle goes back to the eighties.
The two millionth produced reached £400,000 at auction in 2015 and a model owned by Charles’ father, the Duke of Edinburgh, sold for nearly £125,000 in 2023.
In 2020, after four years in design, a new look Land Rover Defender 90 and 110 was launched.
Sadly, the ‘72 HRH’ number plate on this royal vehicle wasn’t part of the sale, but I guess the lucky buyer could always put a call in to his Royal Highness. You never know!