Lending cars to the Queen has become a family tradition for a Maltese classic car owner after his BMW became the second car to be used by the monarch after his father first gave Her Majesty his Austin Somerset in 1957.

The right royal coincidence happened in 2007 when 62-year-old Carol Galea was asked if his BMW 7 Series could be used by the Queen when she visited the island as part of her diamond wedding anniversary.

“I’m very proud to say that two of my cars were used by the Queen,” Mr Galea said.

The tradition began in 1957, when Mr Galea’s father, Joe, was asked if the Queen could use the light blue open top car in the cavalcade down Republic Street, Valletta, on Her Majesty’s arrival.

His father happily obliged cementing the event in the family’s history. The car was then sold to a man in London in 1959 where it remained until it went up for auction.

By that time, Mr Galea, a property developer by trade and a lover of classic cars had established a large collection of vehicles dating back to the 1920s.

A regular on the classic car auction circuit in the UK, Mr Galea came across the car that was once owned by his father six years ago and decided to snap it up and bring it back to its rightful home.

It became part of the permanent display at the Malta Classic Car Collection, which is a purpose built museum in Qawra housing his beautiful assembly of cars.

In 2007 he was asked whether the Queen could use his BMW on a short private visit to mark her diamond wedding anniversary to which he happily agreed.

The same car also had also carried ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak during a trip to Malta.

Mr Galea’s collection of cars includes a Ford Thunderbird, once owned by Dick Van Dyke, the actor from Mary Poppins making Mr Galea the second owner of the car.