The Queen's Royal Train Is Unlike Any Other Travel Experience
There's traveling in style, and then there's traveling with the Queen. After reading about Queen Elizabeth's royal train, you may never want to get on Amtrak again.
Finding Freedom, a new biography of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, gives us an inside look at Her Majesty's personal train. The book details Meghan, Duchess of Sussex's first official engagement with the Queen in June 2018, just a month after her marriage to Prince Harry. The two royal women (along with a few aides) journeyed within England to open a road bridge in Widnes and visit the Storyhouse and Town Hall in Chester. Perhaps, though, the most special part of the trip was the overnight train travel.
According to the book, the royal train includes private bedrooms, a sitting room, a dining table for six, and an office for the Queen. Riders shouldn't worry about a bumpy ride: the train has secondary air suspension technology to ensure the smoothest journey possible. Better yet? The conductor is sure to drive especially slowly and carefully at 7:30 a.m., to ensure water stays in the tub for the Queen's morning bath. Ah yes, it's good to be the monarch.
Even the train's smaller details are worth noting. The sitting room couch is made from hand-stitched velvet cushions. And, while Prince Philip has to suffer with plain pillows, the Queen's are lace-trimmed, with a small royal cipher in one corner.
Meghan matched the setting's elegance, wearing a now-iconic caped cream Givenchy sheath dress by her wedding gown designer, Clare Waight Keller. She also was conscious of her behavior, meticulously following royal protocols. Indeed, she was honored to be on the trip at all as it occurred so soon after her marriage.
Finding Freedom notes that the Queen made this choice due to her confidence in Meghan. A palace source said the Duchess "handles these situations flawlessly because she's always well prepared and respectful. She's very clever and good at understanding what's required."
During that trip, Meghan certainly lived up to expectations. So much so that, even before stepping off the train, the Queen gifted her a delicate pair of pearl and diamond earrings.
"They had a very warm happy day out and introduction to royal life," a source revealed in the new book. "Because the Queen has so much knowledge to pass on and Meghan is a keen student."
Buy your copy of Finding Freedom here.
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