Royal Train: The Queen and Kate Middleton’s method of travel to efficiently move around
Kate Middleton: Expert on Duchess' 'first time' on royal train
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Kate Middleton and Prince William for example have been seen using commercial airlines to fly between countries, however, the royal train is a method of transport only available to select members of the Royal Family. Queen Elizabeth II has spent a vast amount of her 69-year-reign travelling on royal tours.
Whether for her duty as head of state or for private excursions, she travels across the UK a great deal.
Other members of the family, particularly heirs to the throne Prince Charles and Prince William, also help with representing the Royal Family.
However, there is one method of transport favoured by the Queen that some members of the family do not have the luxury of experiencing.
The royal train first came into service in 1842 when it was developed for Queen Adelaide, wife of King William IV.
The dedicated train has become “the royals’ favourite way to travel” according to the Channel 5 documentary ‘Secrets of the Royal Train’.
The train itself has remained out of bounds to the press and the public.
While Queen Elizabeth may enjoy relaxing onboard the luxury, not everyone in the family is allowed to use the train.
In the Channel 5 documentary which aired in 2020, royal commentator Emily Andrews explained: “The royal train is actually only for the four most senior members of the Royal Family so that at the moment is the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall. “
In fact, Kate Middleton and Prince William only used the royal train for the first time in December 2020, when they embarked on a three-day tour of Scotland, England, and Wales.
Also speaking in the documentary, royal train expert Phil Marsh said there was much secrecy surrounding the luxury vehicle.
He said: “The mystique about the royal train is the fact that no one ever really gets near it.”
The royal train is not used as much in recent years, as it cost the taxpayer around £63,000 to run between 2019 and 2020.
However, according to the royal annual review, the train was used just three times in 2019.
A poll run by Express.co.uk in September 2020 found more than half of Britons felt the train should be retired from service.
It saw 53 percent of voters erring in favour of the train being shunted off for good.
Contrastingly, 47 percent felt it was a cheap and efficient way of transporting Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles, and therefore should be maintained.
These days, it seems the Prince of Wales is the main royal still using the train.
According to a 2008 report “Charles is the most frequent and regular passenger”.
Meanwhile Camilla “unlike her husband, is not a lover of train travel”.
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