In June 1926, British reporting already called the still-mysterious machine “The Golden Bugatti,” a name that reflected its ambition and presence. The Royale was the largest and most ambitious car Bugatti had built.
It measured more than six metres long, had a wheelbase of about 4.3 metres and, in series form, used a 12.8-litre straight-eight producing around 300 PS. Only six were built, each with its own coachwork. The first prototype used a larger engine of about 14.7 litres, and Bugatti records a maximum speed of up to 200 km/h for that prototype, and the Royale as a whole weighed around 3.5 tonnes.
Six Cars, Six Coachbuilders
The mechanical concept was shared, but each car’s body came from a different builder, including Bugatti, Weymann, Kellner, Weinberger, Binder and Park Ward. Some bodies were shaped by the owner’s preferences as much as by the coachbuilder.
The Coupé Napoléon began as a prototype with several bodies. Its first fixed-head Weymann coachwork was destroyed in a serious accident in the early 1930s. Jean Bugatti then reshaped the car into the Coupé Napoléon, with a glazed roof that lit the rear compartment and a chauffeur seated separately at the front. It was Ettore Bugatti’s own car and is now displayed at the Musée National de l’Automobile in Mulhouse.
Armand Esders, a Parisian textile industrialist, became the first private customer for a Royale. He commissioned chassis 41111 with a roadster body by Jean Bugatti and asked for no headlights, since he planned to drive only in daylight. In 1932, Ettore Bugatti commissioned Breguet to make nine mechanical chronographs for the steering wheel centres, engraved “Spécial pour Bugatti.”
Market Timing and a Record Sale
The Royale launched just before the global financial crisis reduced demand for an extremely exclusive model. Bugatti built six rather than the larger series Ettore had envisioned. In November 1987, the Kellner-bodied Royale sold for £5.5 million at Christie’s in London, a world auction record for a car at the time.
The 2026 Reunion
During the Bugatti Festival in September 2026, three of the six Royales were reunited at the brand’s home. Alongside the Coupé Napoléon stood the Binder-bodied car, which began as Esders’ roadster and was later reshaped by Henri Binder into an armoured Coupé de Ville, and a 1933 Park Ward limousine.
Luigi Galli, Bugatti‘s Heritage and Certification Expert, said the Royale reveals more about Ettore Bugatti than almost any other car he made, combining confidence, refinement and a belief that engineering and art should not be separated. Bugatti thanked the Musée National de l’Automobile and the Autostadt in Wolfsburg for supporting the reunion.