Britain’s royal family is putting the brakes on one of its most enduring and iconic symbols of tradition: the royal train. Buckingham Palace confirmed this week that the private train, used by monarchs since the reign of Queen Victoria, will be retired as part of King Charles III’s cost-cutting drive, the New York Times reported.
Though rarely used in recent decades, the royal train has been a rolling emblem of monarchy for centuries—rich, elitist, and steeped in tradition. Its final journeys lock into place the end of an era of more than a century, from Queen Victoria's first 1842 journey to King Charles's honeymoon trek with Princess Diana in 1981.
A royal legacy on rails
Royal train history began with Queen Victoria, the first British monarch to ride on a train in 1842, despite initial doubts. Despite 19th-century fears that train travel would drive a person insane, she went on to say in her diary that the ride was "delightful." Victoria had commissioned lavishly appointed royal carriages with 23-karat gold and silk fittings by 1869, although she complained about dining on board on health grounds.
Over the decades, the royal train was also a mobile office and personal haven for monarchs. In World War II, it had bulletproof plating fitted for King George VI. It otherwise carried Queen Elizabeth II and her corgis around the nation, accommodated prime ministers like Clement Attlee, and ferried royals to country houses and official functions.
Royal travel, royal expense
The current version of the train was introduced in 1977 for Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee. While it featured sitting rooms, bedrooms, and a dining car, its design was more functional than opulent. Powered by locomotives running on recycled vegetable oil, it offered an eco-friendly but expensive alternative to air travel.
Although it has background history, the train is increasingly hard to justify. In 2023, the train operated only twice, and at a cost of nearly £80,000. Charles, who is not prone to environmental or fiscal profligacy, has judged that the train does not now suit the modern image or pocket of the monarchy. With two new royal helicopters in commission, the train is deemed redundant.
Farewell to a moving symbol
The phasing out of the royal train also ends a living link between Queen Victoria and King Charles III. It has carried generations of monarchs to weddings, funerals, royal tours, and royal holidays. From waving schoolchildren on the tracks to greeting monarchs at platforms by prime ministers, the train has long been a provider of Britons' imagination.
But the decision is part of a wider project of Charles to trim down the monarchy and modernize its image. Though there will be some that will lament the passing of the royal train, its vanishing points to a larger shift: the British monarchy, previously defined by pomp and circumstance, increasingly seeks to move with the times—though at the cost of getting off the rails.
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