THE lAST WoRD

Queen of 2 Wheels!

Cindy Bennett, Member #4170

When Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died I put a photo on our Club FaceBook page of her riding a motorcycle in World War II. This had been shared by a female riders group on FB that I am a member of. That photo got me interested to find out more about what our Queen did on 2 wheels! As written in an online article for “Motoress”, the bike the then Princess Elizabeth was riding was either a BSA 250 or Royal Enfield 250cc SV when at age 19 she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Services (ATS) and trained as a driver and mechanic. Interestingly she was accompanied by Mary Churchill - the youngest daughter of Winston. Alongside learning how to operate and ride a motorcycle, the women of the ATS learned vehicle maintenance such as changing truck tyres, adjusting spark plugs etc. Handy skills for all Princesses! The photographer subsequently sent the negatives of this photo to the Queen who wrote to express her gratitude that she could show the photos to her grandchildren. This must have had the desired effect as Princes William and Harry both ride motorcycles and indeed participated in a popular charity ride “Enduro Africa” riding 1500km across Southern Africa in 2008.