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We shouldn’t be surprised that somebody is trying to sell the Queen’s former Bentley Mulsanne for a substantial mark-up. Vendors often try to extract a sizable premium for cars that have been owned by somebody famous, and celebrities don’t get much bigger than HRH. So if you’re in the market for a right-hand-drive Mulsanne and dig the fact that Her Maj once sat on the back seat, then you can buy this one, currently listed on the British Auto Trader website (unrelated to the U.S.-based autotrader.com), for £199,850, or $283,000 at current exchange rates.
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You’d be as mad as King George III to do so, of course. Although gently used to convey Queen Elizabeth to and from her various castles and palaces and with just 5000 miles recorded, this 2012 Mulsanne is, by our reckoning, nearly twice the price of a similar car in the U.K. without a royal pedigree. Alternatively it could be a canny investment, depending on how much value the market places on its royal connection—the former Cardinal Ratzinger’s MkIV Volkswagen Golf sold for a dizzying $244,000 after he became Pope Benedict XVI.
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The Mulsanne itself was first registered by Bentley Motors in 2012, suggesting it was loaned to the royal household rather than sold, and is finished in an appropriately regal shade of Barnato Green with magnolia trim. There’s no mention of any security upgrades in the online listing suggesting that, if fitted, they have subsequently been removed, but the car does have fold-down walnut picnic tables which could well have been used for the occasional royal snack. The car was used for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations and for a visit to the Prime Minister at No.10 Downing Street. Short of Morris dancing while drinking warm beer through a mouthful of bad teeth it doesn’t get much more British than that. The advertisement also says that the car’s satellite navigation system has been programmed to have Windsor Castle as its home location, a suitably regal touch.
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There’s stiff competition between British carmakers to be seen to be chauffeuring the Queen about, with Range Rovers often used as well as the far more elaborate Bentley State Limousine. Yet she has more modest tastes when she takes the wheel herself, having recently been photographed driving a decade-old Jaguar X-type wagon.
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If you’re not convinced by the royal connection but still want a British-registered Mulsanne and a substantial saving, we also found this 10,000-mile example for £120,000 on the Auto Trader site. See the original listing for the royal car here.
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from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com/royal-flush-queens-bentley-mulsanne-ends-up-on-british-auto-trader/
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