R-R celebrates century-old secret

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THE STATUE AND THE MISTRESS: From left are the Rolls-Royce emblem, an older Eleanor Thornton and a picture of her as a younger woman. She died in a torpedo attack.

This year the Rolls-Royce mascot - the Flying Lady, aka, the Spirit of Ecstasy - is 100 years old and the occasion has caused action at the home of the Montagu family, Palace House, in the UK.

An exhibition telling the intriguing story of the mascot’s creation will open there today (May 5, 2011) to explore the connections between motoring pioneer John Scott Montagu, his friend British artist and sculptor Charles Sykes, and Montagu's London-based secretary and mistress, Eleanor Velasco Thornton.

In 1910 Claude Johnson, then MD of Rolls-Royce, commissioned Sykes to design a mascot “that belonged to the (Rolls-Royce) car as much as a carved wooden figurehead belonged to a sailing vessel". The Spirit of Ecstasy mascot has adorned the radiator of every Rolls-Royce since 1911.

THE BIG SECRET

Thornton, widely believed to have been the inspiration for Sykes’ iconic statuette, didn't live to witness the global success of the emblem made in her image. She was aboard the P&O liner SS Persia with Lord Montagu in 1915 when the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine. Montagu survived, his lover did not.

Her secret love affair with the married John, Lord Montagu was immortalised in another mascot Sykes designed for Montagu. It was The Whisperer, which pre-dates the Spirit of Ecstasy but is believed to be its inspiration, and depicts a young woman, widely believed to be based on Thornton, in fluttering robes with a secretive forefinger pressed to her lips.

The exhibition has original artworks and ephemera rarely seen in public, including some of Charles Sykes’ original artwork and his special-edition covers for The Car Illustrated magazine which was edited by Montagu, and several original bronzes.

The exhibition will be open until October 2011 and can be seen as part of a visit to the whole Beaulieu attraction.