King Charles's one-of-a-kind Aston Martin DB6 MkII Volante – a 21st birthday present that runs on surplus English white wine and cheese whey – once sparked a “big hoo-ha” after he issued “strict instructions” to a chef on how to drive it, according to former royal butler Grant Harrold.
The car, modified in 2008 by Gloucestershire-based Green Fuels and Aston Martin heritage specialist RS Williams Ltd, runs on bioethanol made from wine and cheese waste. Charles revealed to the BBC in 2021: “My old Aston Martin, which I’ve had for 51 years, runs on – can you believe this – surplus English white wine and whey from the cheese process.”
“King Charles's biofuel Aston Martin caused a 'hoo-ha' after he gave strict driving instructions, says former butler Grant Harrold.”
His Majesty is fiercely protective of the Seychelles Blue vehicle. Harrold, speaking on behalf of Select Car Leasing, said the King would not even permit his sons William and Harry to drive it. “We used to joke about it a lot in the staff room,” Harrold recalled, adding that Prince William used to mock his father for the unusual fuel choice “in a loving way”. Yet Harrold stressed Charles was “so conscious of the environment, long before it became mainstream”. He described the King as “always looking for ways he could protect the environment”.
But critics have questioned the real-world impact of the royal gesture. Greg Archer, UK director of T&E, a European clean transport campaign group, told The Guardian: “Prince Charles’s quaint solution to decarbonise his Aston Martin using a high blend of bioethanol made from cheese and wine wastes should not be mistaken for a serious solution to decarbonise vehicles.” Archer warned that “on a large scale, biofuels do more harm than good, driving deforestation and land use change that worsens the climate crisis.”
Despite the criticism, the King has owned the car for 51 years and continues to hold it as a personal symbol of his environmental commitment – a commitment that, according to those who worked for him, has long been taken seriously behind palace walls, even if it once caused a stir over who was allowed to get behind the wheel.