Think of a wedding car. Close your eyes and what do you see? Chances are ivory ribbons and a flying lady will spring to mind. This flying lady is more formally known as "The Spirit of Ecstasy", a figurine adorning most Rolls-Royce motor cars since 1911. A lovely, fitting, romantic mascot for the best car in the world and the best wedding car in the world.

Rolls-Royce wedding cars from vintage Rolls-Royce wedding cars to the brand new Rolls-Royce Phantom wedding cars all adorn a variation of the Spirit of Ecstasy on their radiators grills. The new Phantom design features a spring loaded mechanism which makes them a lot safer for pedestrians, and also folds away when parked to keep it safe and sound.

The History of the Spirit of Ecstasy

A story of romance and tragedy

Claude Johnson (known as the hyphen in Rolls-Royce) commissioned his friend Charles Sykes, a graduate of the Royal College of Art to design a mascot to sit a top the radiator of Rolls-Royce cars. Rolls-Royce had noted that many customers where designing their own radiator mascots, and many of which were vulgar or "inappropriate" to the Rolls-Royce ethos.

Johnson’s brief was that the mascot should evoke the spirit of the Nike of Samothrace, a famous sculpture on display in the Louvre. The sculpture was fashioned after Nike, the ancient Greek goddess of victory. Sykes chose his own path, and revisited a custom Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost mascot he had made for John Montagu, who later became Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. This was named "The Whisper" and depicted a woman with her fingers to her lips as if she was keeping a secret, which she was. The model for The Whisper was Eleanor Velasco Thornton, the beautiful, secret lover of Lord Montagu. Thornton would become the model for the new Rolls-Royce mascot, which went onto become one of the most famous icons of the 20th century.

Sykes called it The Spirit of Speed, but later he said, "A graceful little goddess, the Spirit of Ecstasy, who has selected road travel as her supreme delight and alighted on the prow of a Rolls-Royce motor car to revel in the freshness of the air and the musical sound of her fluttering draperies." The Spirit of Ecstasy was born. Sykes presented the first Silver Lady to Rolls-Royce in February 1911, since then nearly every Rolls-Royce car has featured this figurine. Originally silver plated, this "Silver Lady" was also known as "Ellie in her nightie" and as "The Flying Lady" in the USA. Due to many incidents of theft, silver was later changed to a nickel alloy, but silver or gold plated varieties were available as an extra. Henry Royce was not a huge fan of these figurines, he felt that they impaired the driver’s view and rarely drove a Rolls-Royce with a mascot.

In 1915, Miss Thornton and Lord Montagu were sailing back to India through the Mediterranean on the SS Persia when it was torpedoed by a U-boat. While Lord Montagu clung onto an upturned life boat for 36 hours and lived, Eleanor went down with the ship. Her legacy will have her remain proudly atop some of the best cars in the world, and will also stand as a lasting testament to her love affair with Lord Montagu. Social pressures meant that Lord Montagu and Miss Thornton could never marry, but the Flying Lady Eleanor has been witness to many over the years, perched on the front of many Rolls-Royce wedding cars.

The story of the lovely Miss Thornton and Lord Montagu is a love story that is soon to become a major new feature film, the aptly titled Silver Ghost.