Sandringham museum. It was replaced by
his Aston Martin DB6 – a MKII Volante,
the cognoscenti’s choice.
Introduced at the 1965 London Motor
Show, the DB6 was the first model to be
engineered at the company’s Newport
Pagnell factory. A lengthened wheelbase and
a relocated rear axle gave it a top speed of
148mph and more stability than the DB5. A
‘Kammback tail’ rear end paid tribute to the
Ferrari 250. Charles’ car, a rare convertible
edition, is fitted with a big red button that
reads ‘eject’. ‘Just a joke,’ the Prince assures
his nervous passenger.
Why Aston Martin? ‘It is one of the great
cars,’ says Charles, his hands at a perfect
‘ten to two’ on the polished wooden steering
wheel. ‘I adore the design and the lines.
They are special. I remember Lord Snowdon
had a marvellous DB5 in a beautiful gun-
metal colour. It was always the car to have.’
We pull into the Highgrove gates and
proceed at a steady, gravel-crunching walking
pace towards the house. A painted sign wryly
cautions us ‘Beware! You are now entering
an old-fashioned establishment’.
The Prince Charles way of doing things,
however, merges aesthetic charm with
a maverick sense of responsibility and is as
much future-facing as it is ‘old fashioned’.
The Home Farm at Highgrove operates
on organic, agro-ecological system, using
homeopathic treatments for cattle and
sheep as part of a drive to reduce the use of
antibiotics. Ninety per cent of the energy
for office and domestic use at the estate comes
from renewable sources, and 60 per cent of
the power is produced on site. Solar panels
have been installed at Highgrove and Charles’
London residence, Clarence House, while
Highgrove, as well as properties in Scotland
and Wales, use biomass boilers; any wood chips
used are sustainably managed. Such attention
to sustainability certainly fits the description
given by Charles’ tailor, who once described
him as a ‘very frugal’ customer who used
offcuts of suits to make coats for his dogs.
Charles founded the International
Sustainability Unit in 2010, seeking solutions
to key environmental challenges, such
as food security, the depletion of natural
capital and ecosystem resilience, and was
awarded a Lifetime Achievement at the
7th International Green Awards in 2012.
The cheese-and-wine-powered DB6 is a little
landmark victory. Green Fuels has patented
a waste-derived sustainable aviation fuel
(SAF) and is now building a demonstration
facility to produce SAF for commercial use.
The fact that cheese whey can make
his car go faster is, though fascinating and
exciting, also slightly baffling to Charles.
‘Don’t ask me to explain how it all works.
I am more of a tinkerer than an engineer,’
he says, his driving hands now plunged
into the pockets of his recycled linen suit
in that inimitable Prince Charles manner.
‘A rags and patches man.’ ∂‘Don’t ask me to explain how it all works.
I am more of a tinkerer than an engineer’
LEFT, THE ENGINE,
WHICH IS POWERED BY
BIO-ETHANOL MADE
FROM WINE WASTE AND
WHEY, AND BLENDED
WITH 15 PER CENT
UNLEADED PETROL,
CREATING THE FUEL ‘E85’
BELOW, THE INTERIOR,
COMPLETE WITH
WOODEN STEERING
WHEEL AND RED ‘EJECT’
BUTTON ON THE DASH172 ∑
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