Kate Middleton and Prince William are travelling 2000km around the British Isles to thank front-line workers for their contributions during the Covid-19 crisis.
Video / AP
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have departed on a three-day tour of the UK in a bio-fuelled train. Kate Middleton and Prince William are travelling 2000km around the British Isles to thank front-line workers for their contributions during the Covid-19 crisis.
The matter was deemed important enough to bringthe royal rolling stock back on the rails. It is a transport solution that is both suitably 'bomb proof' and environmentally friendly for Prince William – second in line to the throne and patron of the 'Earthshot Prize' for climate change solutions.
That doesn't mean that the royals will be travelling standard class. The royal train which is operated by Deutsche Bahn Cargo UK, runs behind a bio-diesel powered Class 67 locomotive.
Little has changed in the 1977 royal train, beyond a new choice of greener fuel. Photo / Getty Images
The nine cars are decorated in 23-carat gold and dark green satin upholstery to look like a palace, after the fashion of Queen Victoria who commissioned the first royal rail coaches in 1869. Although royals have been on the rails since 1840, when the widow of William IV, Dowager Queen Adelaide toured the country.
Containing a kitchen, 12-seat dining car and sleeping carriages for royals and aides, the train is a mobile Buckingham Palace in miniature.
However, according to the Daily Mail most of the décor is far more practical than you might expect and slightly outdated. First built in 1977, much of the interior appears little changed.
The dining room aboard the bio-fuel powered Royal Train. Photo / PA via Getty Images
During the Royal Jubilee in 2002, the palace allowed journalists a rare glimpse inside the train in an effort to show the relative modesty in which the monarch was travelling. During that year the Queen ran up a bill of £872,000 ($1.65 million) in train travel costs. While the train has been modernised, and the locomotive switched to run on "environmentally friendly" biodiesel, it is no cheaper. In 2017 the Press Association estimated a running cost of about £81 per kilometre, 100 times the cost of travelling on network rail at 80p/km.
A bullet hole can still be seen in staff accommodations aboard the Royal Train. Photo / PA via Getty Images
However the train offers protection few other modes of transport can afford. In bullet and bomb proof carriages, the royal train is the most secure modes of transport available to the royal family.
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) December 7, 2020
A bullet hole can still be seen from a 2000 incident in which an armed guard accidentally let off his weapon inside the train in what was reported as a "negligent discharge".
On Monday the Cambridges left a message on the service information boards at Euston Station, reading:
"Thank you to transport workers everywhere for keeping the country moving throughout this difficult year," and signed with Christmas wishes from William and Catherine.
