Prince Charles buys Jaguar I-Pace and launches the Royals into the electric car era

Prince Charles has built a reputation as the British Royal Family’s very own environmentalist, previously waging a war on plastics in the palace and even installing sovereign solar panels.

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Now he’s taking delivery of an emissions-free electric car.

The heir to the throne of the British Empire has ponied up £60,000 (A$107,700) of his own money on an example of the new Jaguar I-Pace. The I-Pace is the first all-electric car from the iconic British marque, and is due to arrive in Australia in October priced from $119,000.

But Jaguar Australia won’t sell you a version identical to Prince Charles’s because the bonnie Prince has ticked quite a few options boxes, including a couple exclusively for him.

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To avoid the automotive equivalent of turning up to a party in the same dress as another guest, the Prince has ordered his Jaguar I-Pace SUV in a unique Loire Blue paint colour. Personally we prefer the dazzling Caesium Blue from the standard palette, but who are we to argue with a bona fide blue blood?

Interestingly, Prince Charles recently described his newest ride as “silent but deadly” which probably sent Jaguar’s marketing team into damage control. We assume he meant the I-Pace is almost completely noise free from the outside yet devastatingly quick. That’s exactly what we found when we drove the car in June.

The Jaguar I-Pace is not quite the first electric Jaguar to feature a Royal at the wheel. In May, Prince Harry drove his new bride Meghan Markle from their wedding in a 1960s E-Type that had been modified to run on an electric motor.

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It should come as no surprise that the Royals are fans of environmentally friendly motoring. Charles’ new Jaguar will have to battle for attention with a beloved Aston Martin DB6 which has been converted to run on bio-ethanol.

And his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, was known in years past to ferry himself about town in a London black cab fuelled by LPG.

The Jaguar I-Pace is the first serious rival to the popular Tesla Model X, which sells in Australia for a coincidental $119,000. But a future king of England paired up with an American just wouldn’t be cricket. Or would it?