Not only does the cinematic James Bond celebrate his 60th birthday this year, 2022 also marks the 70th year of Her Majesty The Queen on the throne. A Platinum Jubilee which was commemorated with a Jubilee weekend from 02 – 05 June in what can only be described as legendary.
Beginning with Trooping the Colour, the traditional birthday parade for The Queen on Thursday, people of the United Kingdom streamed into London to celebrate the longest reigning monarch in history. Saturday saw the three-hour Platinum Jubilee concert with a line-up of music icons including Rod Stewart, Elton John, Alicia Keys, Craig David and Diana Ross.
The grand final was a Jubilee pageant on Sunday. And let’s be honest, nobody does pageantry quite like the British. In a long procession through Whitehall and the Mall towards Buckingham Palace, the three acts of the pageant displayed some of Britains greatest achievements in technology, music, art and sport.
Act II included many classic cars and naturally, there had to be a connection to James Bond, who himself is an icon of Great Britain.
The legendary Aston Martin DB5, driven by Special Effects Supervisor Chris Corbould, led the Bond section. Complete with firing machine guns and that unmistakeable engine sound!
Featured in a total of eight Bond films, the silver birch vehicle has become a much loved and universally recognized symbol for secret agent James Bond over the years.
Right behind it came the Lotus Esprit S1, seen in The Spy Who Loved Me and affectionately renamed “Wet Nellie” as it was able to turn into an underwater submarine in the film.
What a lovely sight, especially when the driver switched on the headlights that are embedded in the chassis of the car.
The Aston Martin V8 was featured in two films – The Living Daylights in 1987 and, more recently, No Time To Die in 2021 in which it had a crowd-pleasing comeback.
Equipped with a set of retractable metal skis that can be deployed from either side of the car, this fantastic Aston Martin famously helped Bond escape a dangerous ice chase.
Next up was the Jaguar XKR from Die Another Day, driven by Stunt Coordinator Gary Powell who happily waved the Union Jack flag.
The car featured during the high-octane ice chase shot in Iceland and Pinewood Studios for which it was heavily modified with an M134 Minigun as well as front and side rocket launchers.
A well-known vehicle from A View To A Kill is the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, driven by Academy Award winning stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong.
The elegant luxury car was once owned by Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli and a familiar site in London’s Mayfair district as well as Pinewood studios.
The Aston Martin DB10 of Spectre is a rare sight as it was produced especially for the 2015 film. It was driven by three-time British World Rally Champion Mark Higgins.
The Triumph Scrambler motorbike seen recently in No Time To Die was driven by world champion bike rider Paul Edmonson, who also performed the stunt driving in the film.
Another famous Rolls Royce, the black and yellow Phantom III, appeared in Goldfinger and belonged to viallain Auric Goldfinger.
The car has been seen a lot during official Bond events, such as the world premiere of Skyfall or the Bond Blu-Ray Relay in 2012.
Among these iconic cars´was also Moneypenny’s Land Rover Defender from Skyfall driven by Jess Hawkins, one of the world’s leading female stunt drivers, as well as the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish from Die Another Day and a Land Rover Series III from No Time To Die.
Below is full coverage of the pageant by The Telegraph. The video is set to the 34 minute mark where the cars pass the Royal Box at Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace.
The drive of a lifetime. #PlatinumJubileePageant pic.twitter.com/7haaa4LoDR
— James Bond (@007) June 5, 2022
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