The Queen never sat for her driver's licence. She never had to.
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But she was an extremely competent driver, famously taking to her training during the war years with the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service - the women's branch of the British Army - with enthusiasm and aplomb, learning how to change a tyre and handle the vans and trucks' cranky non-syncromesh "crash" gearboxes.
Women in Britain were not permitted to fight on the frontline during World War II but some 65,000 were recruited to perform vital roles as telephonists, car mechanics, drivers, despatch riders, mess orderlies, postal workers, ammunition inspectors, and military police.
By the end of the war Elizabeth had reached the rank of junior commander, having completed her course at No 1 Mechanical Training Centre of the ATS at Aldershot, and passed as a fully qualified driver.
One of the most heart-warming anecdotes of her competence behind the wheel was that told by the former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles in his book Ever the Diplomat: Confessions of a Foreign Office Mandarin.
It was during the visit of the-then Crown Prince Abdullah (later to become King) of Saudi Arabia to her Scottish estate at Balmoral in 2003.
Famously, of course, woman were then not permitted to drive in Saudi Arabia.
So imagine the Crown Prince's shock when, after an invitation was extended to tour the estate and he climbed aboard a Land Rover for the journey, that the Queen herself jumped behind the wheel.
"To his surprise, the Queen climbed into the driving seat, turned the ignition and drove off. Women are not - yet - allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, and Abdullah was not used to being driven by a woman, let alone a queen," Sir Sherard recounted.
"His nervousness only increased as the Queen, an Army driver in wartime, accelerated the Land Rover along the narrow Scottish estate roads, talking all the time. Through his interpreter, the Crown Prince implored the Queen to slow down and concentrate on the road ahead."
Like her father King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II took a great interest in motor vehicles - all British-made, of course - amassing quite a vehicular collection through the years, and the no-nonsense, ever-capable Land Rover was a particular favourite.
King George was gifted a Land Rover in 1948 to celebrate a production milestone by the company and a few years later, the King granted a Royal Warrant to the company. Warrants have been granted since the 15th century to those companies who supply goods and services to the Royal family, and allows those companies to use the Royal Warrant.
Bentley, Rolls Royce, Jaguar and Land Rover are all Royal Warrant holders.
The Queen kept multiple Land Rovers and Range Rovers on her estates of Balmoral, Sandringham, and Windsor Great Park.
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The more comfortable Range Rover was favoured for her many estate journeys from around 2002 and it wasn't until 2015 that she traded her workhorse Rangie for a long-wheelbase Range Rover landaulet.
Land Rover hand-built many open-topped Range Rovers - so-called "State Review" vehicles - for the Queen. Her late husband, Prince Philip, also drove Land Rovers - with quite a deal of "vigour", some reports say - but stopped driving in 2019 at the age of 97 when he crashed into a Kia sedan near Sandringham and his Land Rover rolled into its side.
The Prince was shaken, but uninjured.
After the Prince's death in April 2021, it was revealed that he had many conversations with Land Rover about the most appropriate vehicle to carry his coffin during the funeral service.
As befitting a military man who served with the Royal Navy during WW2 as a Commander, Land Rover built a Defender with an extended wheelbase and open-topped rear section, in military green, for the monarch's last journey.
Any vehicle collisions involving the Royal family make significant news, of course, as was the case back in 1964, when the Prince, with the Queen on board, crashed into another car in Berkshire. No-one was injured.
In a television interview, the driver said: "The Duke got out first and said: 'How are you?' and I said, 'Well I've just grazed my knee, sir!' He said, 'Oh, that's good,' and he went back to the Queen."
The Queen also had an near-miss with a Nissan Juke, also at Sandringham, in April this year.
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