A HISTORIC armoured car in a different class which has appeared on television and was used to transport the Queen has turned 100.

The Rolls Royce armoured car is the oldest running vehicle at the Tank Museum, Bovington.

The car has appeared on the Antiques Roadshow, Annika Rice’s Treasure Hunt and at numerous regimental occasions, along with having Queen Elizabeth as a passenger on a visit to museum in 1997.

The vehicle was armoured at Woolwich Arsenal in London in October 1920 and was delivered to the War Office in November - it is still driven regularly to this day.

Such vehicles were originally built during the First World War - when many wealthier gentlemen took their family cars with them to the front. Many of them equipped their vehicles with weapons and armour and they eventually proved their worth as fighting cars. Shortly afterwards, the Office of the Admiralty and Marine Affairs approved a request for purpose-built vehicles.

Since they weren't suitable for use on the Western Front, once trench warfare began, they were sent by the British Army to the Middle East, where they proved to be very successful. Following the conclusion of the First World War, a new generation of the vehicles were built, named the 'Rolls Royce 1920 Pattern' – the car at the Tank Museum belongs to this generation.

The Rolls Royce which now resides at the museum saw action in Ireland, Shanghai and Egypt, before returning to England to patrol the Sussex coastline during the Second World War.

In recent years it has been used by the museum for events and special occasions. The vehicle was added to the museum's collection in 1947.

To celebrate the anniversary, The Tank Museum has released a special episode about the Rolls Royce Armoured Car on its YouTube channel.

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