Meet the 1954 Royal Windsor Living Wagon, a True Palace on Wheels That's Still Around

This is exactly what the Royal Windsor Living Wagon is, a proper palace on wheels: luxurious, ahead of its time, visually stunning, and very expensive while still a family home. The Royal Windsor is actually a series of custom wagons built for the Smart family through the late 1950s and early 1960s, three of which were used by the three owners as permanent homes and which are now considered icons of the long-gone, glorious era of traveling circuses.

The Smarts are heavyweights in British entertainment. Billy Smart Jr., who often called himself "The Guv’nor" and who took over the family business in 1966, is widely considered the greatest showman of the 20th century. He eventually brought sons Ronald and David on board, handling the family business on equal footing. But it was Billy's ideas that propelled it to international fame, helping it adjust to new demands as decades wore on, branching out from fairgrounds to traveling circuses and, later on, theme parks, zoos, and televised entertainment.

Part of the appeal of the Bill Smart Circus was the family's Living Wagons, yet this is one instant where Billy doesn't get any credit. Ronald "Ronnie” does: in the mid-'50s, he was approached by building specialist Southern with an offer for a living wagon. Ronnie was interested, but not enough to allow for this unexpected expense, so he told Southern he'd consider it some more if they could show him drawings for a wagon unlike any other on the road at the time.

Some days later, he was looking at the first sketch of what would become the 1954 Royal Windsor Living Wagon, a monstrous 37-foot (11.2-foot0 wagon sitting on an articulated trailer (an innovation at the time), with a swooping silhouette, modern Art Deco lines, and mollycroft roofs – and the promise of a most luxurious interior possible then. Ronnie still balked at the quoted price of £1,600-£1,700 (roughly $24,000 in today's money), but he was already sold on the idea.

In 1954, he took delivery of his and wife Kay's new home. Brother David got his in 1955, and a third one was built for "The Guv’nor" in 1960 by a separate contractor, which, as a sign of respect, bore No.1 on the front until the very end. Ronnie's was No.2, while David got third in line. All three units are now the property of Joby and Georgina Carter of the Carter Steam Fair, the world's largest vintage steam fair, with the Carters using Ronnie's as their permanent home.

What made the Living Wagons stand out was more than just their size and streamlined silhouette that made people gawk and stare, comparing them to submarines traveling down the road. For that period of time, they were the most luxurious type of residence, designed for entertaining some of the poshest members of British society, from established actors like Joan Crawford to actual Royals like Princess Margaret.

As Ronnie and Kay explain in the documentary below, the Smarts would use their wheeled palaces for entertaining whenever they were doing more polished galas in large cities. To that end, each wagon had a circular cocktail bar in the main lounge, a cozy sofa, a television set, and even a fireplace. Ronnie's unit even had a crystal chandelier hanging over this space, adding an extra touch of sophistication to an already sophisticated interior decked in mahogany, maple, and velvet.

Ronnie had added a bedroom extension at the rear after some years, taking the total length of the trailer to over 40 feet (12.2 meters) – the more recent restoration saw it extended a bit more, to 42 feet (12.8 meters) in total. Amenities included central heating and running water and a full kitchen with a dining area.

The Carters bought this unit in 2012 and carried out a second restoration on it, which involved stripping everything down and keeping whatever was still in decent condition. The aluminum is the original one, but only one panel of wood could still be salvaged after years of exposure to the elements in a garden.

The chassis also had to be replaced, and a new interior was laid out to suit the needs of the growing Carter family. A dishwasher, AC, a flushing toilet, and a backup inverter were added, as was a kids' bedroom with bunk beds. Features like the bar and the fireplace were no longer deemed necessary: the Carters don't just use the trailer as their home, but they also refuse to entertain in it because it's a private space.

The second restoration on Donnie's Living Wagon took 499 days and the kind of budget that makes Joby say that he wouldn't reveal the exact figure even if he could remember it. He also restored the other two trailers of the Smart family, with the most recent being the 2020 overhaul of Billy's No. 1.

In 2022, he and his family were still living in the first Living Wagon, saying that, while an "awkward vehicle" to be driving on the narrow streets of London, it was the most comfortable, practical, and gorgeous home. But to the Carters, the Royal Windsor Living Wagons are more than just comfort and beauty in an oversize package: they are pieces of showbiz history, and they're treated accordingly.