The Spirit of Ecstasy
The Rolls Royce Flying Lady
Continuing with the Rolls Royce theme and one of the most iconic symbols in the motoring world, the spirit of ecstasy.
Otherwise known as the ’silver lady’, the ‘flying lady’ or ‘emily’ the true name is the ’spirit of ecstasy’ and has been featured on the front of every Rolls Royce radiator since 1911.
Modelled on a certain Eleanor Thornton, a young beauty who had a secret relationship with a Lord Montagu who went on to commission a mascot for his Silver Ghost from the sculptor, Charles Sykes.
The mascot has seen a number of alterations over the years, due in part to obstruction of vision and safety regulations of the time it has also gone from being silver plated in the earliest models to gold plated on luxury models and then to its current polished nickel alloy.
Eleanor Thornton died in 1915 when the ship she was travelling on was torpedoed by a German submarine but her name lives on in this wonderful piece of British car manufacturing history.
