The quest to save Elizabeth II’s machine-gunned Rolls-Royce

British petrolheads are being asked to help restore a Rolls-Royce used by Queen Elizabeth II that was machine-gunned during Sudan’s civil war.

The late Queen travelled in an open-top Phantom when she made a state visit to the former colony in 1965, receiving a rapturous welcome as she entered Khartoum.

Sudan placed the classic car in the grounds of the Republican Palace, the seat of government, which became the epicentre of early fighting when civil war broke out in 2023.

The late Queen’s Rolls-Royce was damaged in the fighting, with its Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament appearing to have been shot off or snapped off and taken away for scrap metal.

Sudanese ministers returning to the ruins of Khartoum have told The Telegraph that they plan to repair the Rolls-Royce.

British motoring enthusiasts who may have suitable parts hidden away in their sheds or garages have been called upon to help with the restoration, with the necessary mechanical expertise and parts not available in Sudan.

Khalid Ali Aleisir, the Sudanese minister for information, said: “If there are any people in Britain who keep antique cars, or have the expertise and want to help repair this part of our past, I invite them to come and help.”

The Rolls-Royce was held in a compound surrounding the Republican Palace along with other antique cars and limousines used by Sudan’s leaders, including El-Tigani el-Mahi, who welcomed Elizabeth II and rode alongside her in 1965.

It was the first state visit to Sudan after it had gained independence from Britain in 1956, and the Queen’s visit to a camel race and tribal dance ceremonies alongside Prince Philip were all captured on British Pathé newsreels.

The car was preserved by the Palace Museum, directed by Abdelnaser Hassan, who showed The Telegraph the damage inflicted on it by what he called “rubbish people” with machine guns.

For two years, the museum was occupied by rebels from the Rapid Support Forces, a military unit commanded by Muhammad Dagalo, which launched a coup against Sudan’s de facto leader and head of the Sudanese armed forces, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in 2023.

Both loyalist and RSF forces have been accused by the United Nations of “large-scale human rights and international humanitarian law violations”.

RSF fighters carried out widespread vandalism and looting of cultural sites while in control of central Khartoum from 2023 to early 2025, and Mr Hassan has suggested that the symbolic presidential car collection may have been deliberately sprayed with bullets.

Ministers in the civilian government under Gen al-Burhan returned to Khartoum in January, and face what the United Nations has deemed a $350m (£280m) rebuild of the bombed-out capital. A restoration of cultural sites may cost further tens of millions.

For the symbolic “priority” of cultural restoration, Sudan hopes to secure help from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which supports the Cultural Protection Fund operated by the British Council.

Funding from the British Council has already been distributed for some projects in Sudan, including the restoration of a mosque in the port city of Suakin, and the community-led peace garden in the eastern city of Kassala.

The intention of these community projects has been to keep cultural practice alive amid widespread displacement in the ongoing civil war, which has left more than 150,000 dead.

It remains to be seen whether funds will be allocated to assist with the rebuilding of sites more closely tied to the de facto Sudanese government, including the Old Republican Palace on the banks of the Nile in central Khartoum.

This was where Gen Charles George Gordon met his end at the hands of the Mahdi army in 1885. The site was restored by Lord Kitchener – later secretary of state for war – after he seized Sudan for the British in 1898, and Sudanese authorities hope these historical connections may help secure assistance.

The National Museum and Ethnographic Museum were among those damaged in the fighting, and thousands of artefacts have been plundered for sale on the black market.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]