Pune: Yohan Poonawalla’s Maharaja Rolls-Royce Wins The Prestigious Duke Of Marlborough Award In UK
Pune: Yohan Poonawalla’s Maharaja Rolls-Royce Wins The Prestigious Duke Of Marlborough Award In UK
India, September 16, 2025: Billionaire Industrialist Yohan Poonwalla’s Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith won the prestigious Duke of Marlborough Award at the Salon Prive Concours in the UK. The magnificent Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire known as “Britain’s Greatest Palace” served as the setting for the 20th annivesrary edition of the leading event.
Entrants from several countries participated with outstanding historic cars including prewar, postwar, supercars and hyper cars. The dazzling Silver Wraith scooped up the coveted prize after the patron of the event walked the lawns and chose it as his personal favourite. Comprehensively restored to original specifications, the multi award-winning car impressed the attendees. Having previously won the Duke of Marlborough Award for his Mysore Bentley in 2021, and now for his Mysore Rolls-Royce in 2025, Yohan Poonawalla has reinforced his dominance/prominence when it comes to Maharaja cars, the aforementioned marques in particular.
His Grace Charles James Spencer-Churchill the 12th Duke of Marlborough, while presenting the award marvelled at the several bespoke features, and pointing to the solid silver crests said, “What caught my attention was the amount of bling on this car. it is a beautiful car, congratulations!”. Chairman of Salon Prive Andrew Bagley, along with classic car expert Max Girardo on the mic while commentating during the parade, admired and described in detail the splendour and rich history of the car.
Commenting on the award Yohan Poonawalla said, “I was happy to learn that my car was chosen for the accolade. It is indeed a uniquely bespoke car that continues to underpin the growing appreciation for such coachbuilt automobiles even today. It is my privilege to showcase these storied Maharaja cars on international platforms”.
Coachbuilt as a foursome drophead coupe by the stylish coachbuilder James Young, in 1949 chassis WCB40 was delivered new to HH the Maharaja of Mysore, who at the time, was the second richest man in the world, after the Nizam of Hyderabad. The Maharaja was one of the most valued customers of Rolls-Royce, in fact so frequent and so large were his orders that it gave birth to the phrase ‘Doing a Mysore’. The phrase referred to producing cars for bulk orders, usually numbering seven. Finished in carnation red and upholstered in red and grey leather, this uniquely bespoke Silver Wraith, like most of the cars of the potentate, came with a whole host of extras and regalia. The long list of features include folding tables in polished veneered wood, ashtrays and cigar lighters in the arm rests, illuminated rear number plate, solid silver crests to doors, solid silver illuminated double-headed bird plaques to the front and rear, illuminated crest to rear boot lid, solid silver double- headed bird plaques illuminated to radiator valance and flag staffs to the front wings. The list of bespoke features continues – back of the front seats were to take out solid silver sandwich boxes, hair brush, scent bottle, comb, clothes brush, soap box (all in solid silver), a sliding cabinet was fitted at the back of the rear seat squab to take solid silver flask, thermos jugs, china cups & saucers, china plates, water flasks for cold water, coffee and picnic boxes in locker at the top of the boot, and also a secret locker behind the rear seat for the Maharani’s jewellery.
All these features were meant to bring the car in line with other cars of the Maharaja which were being built by Gurney Nutting, Hooper and Mulliner. A cable was sent by HH which instructed “to fix in the correct place, post to carry flag on Gurney Nutting Rolls and also an illuminated plaque containing crest to be fixed in proper place”. In what was a very rare occurrence, no less than four of the world’s most reputed coachbuilders were engaged to complete this quintessential Maharaja car which resides today in the famed Yohan Poonawalla Collection, a labour of love of the Poonawallas – Yohan, Michelle, Tania and Zayan. After the ownership of Maharaja of Mysore, later in its life, WCB40 ended up with the Maharaja of Bharatpur. It was during Bharatpur’s ownership that it was used for HRH the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip and by Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II and also the Prince of Wales when they visited India. This car is emblematic of the affluence of the once powerful and incredibly rich Indian Maharajas. It forms one of the centerpieces of the famed Yohan Poonawalla Collection based in Pune, India.
The ‘Yohan Poonawalla Collection’ based in Pune India is an eclectic mix of pre-war, post-war, modern classics and supercars curated with a special focus on provenance and pedigree. In 2023 the collector became the first Indian ever to feature in the global ranking of ‘Top 100 Classic Car Collectors of the World’ published by the Classic Car Trust (TCCT) in Europe, and the same year he also became the first collector from that country to win the prestigious ‘Classic Car Ambassador of the Year’ awards at the Historic Motoring Awards presented by Octane in UK. He was also named ‘Collector of the Year’ at the inaugural Geneva International Motor Show Qatar in 2023, and was awarded ‘Hero of the Rally’ award at the 1000 Miglia Experience UAE in 2024. As India’s Motoring Ambassador to the world, he continues to promote the country’s rich automotive heritage worldwide.
