Court allows lord his eagle mascot on car

Press, 24 February 1987, Page 18

Court allows lord his eagle mascot on car

By

ROBIN CHARTERIS

London correspondent

Judicial approval has been given for exotic but potentially painful extras for cars owned by the British aristocracy. Lord Napier, aged 56, private secretary to Princess Margaret, was cleared recently at a Staffordshire court of having a dangerous eagle mascot on his car after magistrates heard about its heraldic significance. The extra which upset a local policeman and led to a charge of driving with a dangerous component was a metal eagle with a 25cm wingspan bolted .to the bonnet of Lord Napier’s Ford Sierra.

The peer, who gave his

address as St James Palace, delivered a snooty explanation to the policeman: “I have the eagle so that people like you can immediately recognise my car and know who I am.” He told the Court the

eagle was the "sinister,” _or left-hand supporter, of his 166-year-old coat of arms.

Although the heraldic authority, "Debrett’s,” describes the eagle as the “Dexter,” or right-hand supporter, magistrates were sufficiently impressed to dismiss the charge. Lord Napier produced photographs to the Court showing the eagle on previous cars he had owned since 1955, none of them challenged by the

police. i He had bought thei eagle in 1954 when he] succeeded to the title, he said. The magistrates’ refusal! to clip the wings of the] eagle may clear the way for further dramatic mascots, according to the "Guardian” newspaper. The Earl of Plymouth had a unicorn, Lord Rathcaven a viciously beaked heron, Antelopes, bison andpeasants with pitchforks are also widely noted irt. "Debrett’s” — a night- 1 mare for who recently said that bonnet mascots were; often a sign of driver aggression, especially if pointed or arrow-shaped.