Queen Elizabeth’s least favourite form of travel unveiled – ‘not very comfortable’
Queen Elizabeth exits state coach during 1953 coronation
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Queen Elizabeth is the best-travelled monarch the country has ever had. State visits have taken Her Majesty to all four corners of the globe. Over the years the Queen has identified what forms of travel she likes and dislikes.
There’s one method of transport Elizabeth does not enjoy.
During her coronation in 1953, she was required to travel by Gold State Coach to Westminster Abbey.
She told explained in the BBC documentary The Coronation just how uncomfortable the journey was for her 25-year-old self
The Queen said: “It’s only sprung on leather [which is] not very comfortable.”
Measuring seven-foot-long, and weighing nearly four tons, it was pulled by eight horses.
However, according to the Queen, it is “not meant for travelling in at all” and only went a couple of miles an hour.
Other members of the Royal Family dislike other forms of transport.
According to a royal author, the Duke of Edinburgh dislikes travelling by rail.
He was once heard commenting that he struggles to breathe on trains.
Author Robert Hardman shared his insight in his book Queen of The World, recalling one particular foreign tour.
In 1952, before the Queen ascended to the throne, the then-Princess Elizabeth and Philip travelled to Canada on a royal tour, much of which was undertaken by train.
Hardman wrote: “It was a hugely ambitious tour, designed to carry the royal couple all across Canada and then back again.
“Much of the journey would be by special Royal Train decorated in the Princess’s favourite ‘surf green,’ along with green damask and taffeta curtains and a light-brown carpet.”
The plush interior design of the train apparently contributed very little to Philip’s wellbeing, however.
“If it was snug and well insulated against the increasingly bracing weather, the Duke found it faintly claustrophobic,” said Hardman.
“‘I feel like a poached egg. I just can’t breathe on trains,’ he announced as he disembarked in Vancouver.”
Meanwhile, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall is afraid of flying and likes to avoid plane where she can.
A Clarence House spokesman shared the insight.
However, they added that it’s a fear Camilla has to regularly confront and accept.
The spokesman said: “The Duchess does not like flying but I think she sometimes has to embrace that fear and get on with it.”
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