Queen Elizabeth Busts a Move Behind the Wheel

As E3 Spark Plugs reported a few months back when she took Formula One champ Lewis Hamilton to task for his lack of proper lunch table manners, England's Queen Elizabeth is a bit of a badass - Legit. She proved it all over again recently when she told her chauffer to park his non-royal rump in the passenger's seat and took command of the steering wheel herself on a Sunday morning jaunt to church. Oh, but the world was in for another surprise.

Royal watchers with ready cameras snapped a series of pics of the soon-to-be nonagenarian Queen as she went all hell-on-wheels in her sleek Jaguar X-type, scaring the daylights out of a young couple walking with their two young children in Windsor Great Park. Apparently, they were blocking her path and she simply was not having it. Rather than wait for them to safely cross the road, Lightning Liz instead veered into the grass, shot a friendly royal wave to the shocked family and went on her way.

While it may seem out of character for a woman known to be a stickler for propriety, longtime royal watchers know that their beloved monarch is no stranger to things automotive. She drives stick, fixes trucks, served as a wartime driver in the British Army and once punked Saudi Arabia's late King Abdullah bin (then a mere Crown Prince) with a wild ride in a Land Rover along narrow Scottish estate roads. Insiders say she chatted up a storm while he held on for dear life and begged her to slow down.

Meanwhile, across the Pond, there were there were some 36 million licensed drivers age 65 or older as of 2012 here in the US. And more than a few of them have the same spitfire approaches to driving as Queen Elizabeth. Do you know one? Post your stories of grannies gone wild behind the wheel on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook Fan Page and be sure to see our next blog on helping to keep the elders you love safe on the roadways.

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