An icon turns 100

The famous Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy mascot was first revealed one hundred years ago this month
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This month marks the one hundredth anniversary of the most recognised, most iconic mascot in the motoring world: the Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy.

Nowadays, bonnet ornaments are the preserve of high-end cars games  like Mercedes-Benz, Bentley and Jaguar. Once commonplace, they have dwindled to a handful, falling foul of styling, aerodynamics and safety requirements.

Rolls Royce cars were built from 1904, originally without any embellishment on their functional radiator caps -- but a fashion among wealthy owners saw increasingly wacky objects put up front and centre on their imposing cars.

Rolls-Royce MD Claude Johnson was instructed to find something more dignified that could be fitted by the RR factory and the Spirit of Ecstasy has been the Rolls-Royce mascot since 1911 -- and its history is the stuff of legend.

Rolls-Royce owner and aristocrat Lord Montagu of Beaulieu was an early motoring pioneer -- by 1902 he was Editor of The Car magazine and his ancestral mansion is now the home of the British National Motor museum.

Montagu had a secretary, Eleanor Thornton, who became his lover -- but as she was a commoner, they were unable to marry. Montagu had earlier commissioned a friend, sculptor Charles Sykes, to create a mascot for his Silver Ghost -- and Sykes used Eleanor as a model. He depicted a slender woman in fluttering robes holding a finger to her lips -- The Whisper, a private reference to their secret tryst.

Montagu introduced Johnson to Sykes and he reworked the Whisper into a figurine leaning forward into the wind of her progress, her outstretched arms trailing her robes
Initially, it was called the Spirit of Speed -- Ecstasy came later.

The statue had some nicknames too, perhaps the most common being simply the Silver Lady -- which gave rise to the rumour that the mascot was made of sterling silver, making it a target for thieves.

In fact, for three years it was silver-plated but then was nickelled to deter thieves. More recently The Silver Lady has been polished stainless steel. Gold versions are available at extra cost.

But Henry Royce, the surviving partner (Charles Rolls was killed in 1910 in Britain's first fatal air-crash) wasn't convinced that the new mascot was beneficial, suggesting it obscured the driver's view; until his death in 1933, Royce was very rarely seen driving a Motor-Car fitted with the mascot.

Although the intention was to replace individual mascots, the Silver Lady was an optional extra for about ten years. Sykes and his daughter made the mascots until 1948 when Rolls-Royce took over. Over time, eleven variations were made -- for some cars, the mascot was taller and for some models before 1934, she was kneeling.

On their Royal Phantoms, Princess (now Queen) Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret specified other mascots: Elizabeth chose St George on horseback, slaying a dragon, while her sister had Pegasus, the winged horse.

The latest mascot, for the Goodwood-built Phantoms, differs from all earlier mascots, being much smaller and lacking much of the original detail in face & clothing.

1970s safety rules required spring-loaded mascots to limit injury to pedestrian. This was later replaced by a sprung retracting mascot, which cut thefts.

Now, Phantom owners can retract their Silver Lady in 'mascot automatic mode' when the doors are locked. In 'mascot manual mode', the owner can choose to leave the mascot visible, or retract it, even while driving.

To celebrate the centenary, one hundred Rolls-Royces took to the streets of London. The convoy made its way past famous London landmarks such as Big Ben, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus, passing places of significance for Rolls-Royce.

Included were the birthplace of Charles Rolls in Mayfair, the studio where Charles Sykes is thought to have created the Spirit of Ecstasy -- and Berkeley Square, the 21st century home of Rolls-Royce in London.

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