Veruschka and Franco Rubartelli were a world-famous model/photographer couple in 1968, and it was a coup for the Jaguar press team to procure their involvement in the publicity around the XJ launch. Veruschka was a German model, daughter of a Count who had been executed during the war for his role with the German resistance and alleged involvement in the plot to kill Hitler.

Having met Veruschka and Franco Rubartelli in Leon, Jim Graham took the car out into the surrounding countryside in order that Rubartelli could photograph Veruschka posing with the newly-unveiled XJ. The resulting photographs, notably the cover shot used by the Telegraph magazine for its 27 September 1968 edition, are suitably period. Within the magazine there was an extended feature about the new model including many of the pictures taken by Graham Finlayson too.

Verushka and Rubartelli would go their separate ways not much later. Rubartelli departed for Venezuela where he resides to this day; Veruschka largely withdrew from modelling a few years later to focus on her work as an artist. She remains an icon in the fashion world and in 2006 appeared in a cameo role in the re-make of the James Bond film, Casino Royale.