All language subtitles for Secrets of Royal Travel Series 1 1of2 Secrets of the Royal Train 1080p

[ Train whistle blows ]

-The most luxurious
and elusive locomotive

in the history
of the British Isles.

For the last 150 years,

the Royal Train
has dutifully transported

the monarchy in style.

-The Royal Train is part of
the spectacle of royalty,

the performance of royalty.

-It's a grand entrance,
it makes a statement.

It connects with the people.

-But its veiled carriages
have remained a mystery to all

but a very privileged few.

This is the inside story of an
extraordinary palace on wheels.

From its lavish past
as the Royal Express of excess

to Her Majesty's
mobile home from home

that's still
chugging away today.

-To be told, "Tonight, you'regoing to drive the Royal Train."

Absolutely fantastic.

-Welcome to the most exclusive
commute in the world.

-It simply has to be the most
romantic train in Britain

and the best way to travel,
if you can.

-All aboard the Royal Train.

[ Train whistle blows ]

♪♪

[ Train whistle blows ]

♪♪

-The grand railways of Britain
are the oldest in the world.

And since the mid-1800s,

the most secretive of trains
has rode its tracks.

♪♪

From Queen Victoria
to Queen Elizabeth,

this regal residence
of the railroads

has always been the royals'
favorite way to travel.

But it remains an enigma.

Press and public
are strictly off limits,

and an invitation on board
is so exclusive,

that even Prince Harry
is still waiting for his.

-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.

-The mistake
about the Royal Train,

comes from the fact thatnobody really ever gets near it.

You can't look into it
when it goes past

'cause the curtains
are always drawn.

What's in it?
Is it luxury?

Is it Spartan?

And there are very few people
that have been on it,

and that's why it's got
that mystique.

-With the Royal Train
making just half a dozen

or so journeys a year,

when its distinctive royalclaret carriages roll into view,

they can cause quite a stir.

-The train journey, the arrival,
the moment the Queen steps out

and onto the red carpet,

it's incredibly important.

♪♪

-For members of the public
that see the Royal Train,

it is perhaps the closest they
will ever get to the monarch,

and it gives them a connection
to the royal family.

♪♪

-And I think in a way,

people do not want
a bicycling monarchy.

They want something a bit
more flamboyant and grander,

with more pomp and circumstance.

-You want them turning up
in a gleaming, claret-clad,

steam-emanating, very smart
royal locomotive that screams,

"You are very special,
we are very special,

and we are gracing you
with our presence,

and we're all gonna have
a jolly nice time.

-Making a grand entrance issomething of a family tradition.

♪♪

Queen Victoria was never one
to miss a big occasion.

Britain's grand new stations

would need to be prepared
for an arrival,

fit for...
well, the Queen.

-Queen Victoria's first journey
was when she was just 23.

It was 1842,
and Albert loved trains,

and Albert really encouraged
Victoria to take the train.

So what they did was,

they took a train journey
from Slough to Paddington.

-The Queen,
like many Victorians,

was rather suspicious
of steam engines

and the speeds a train could
reach with this new technology.

It was widely believed that
traveling over 40 miles an hour

could drive you insane.

But Victoria put her fears aside

and took her first
royal train trip.

And if she was going to do it,
she'd do it in style.

-They took a horse-drawn
carriage to Slough

from Windsor Castle,

and there they boarded
the Royal Saloon.

And it had been decorated

in the most Victorian way
you can imagine.

It was grandeur, it was opulent,

and Victoria thought it was
really rather marvelous.

She was completely won over.

That was the beginning
of Victoria's great love affair

with the Royal Train,

one that would persist
throughout her entire reign,

right up until death.

-Queen Victoria was so smitten
by steam-train travel

that, by 1869, she commissioned
a private set of carriages,

designed and decorated
to her own unique taste.

-It's more than just
a railway carriage.

It's like a National Trust
property on wheels.

♪♪

Everything that you see in here,
from the woodwork,

to the gilt,
to the silks is original.

It's a national treasure.

-No expense was spared
in making her train carriages

as decadent as the rooms
of her palace.

-What was very important to her
and those around her,

was that it really was like
this palace on wheels.

So you actually forgot
you were in a train.

-Victoria decorated her saloon
in her own understated way.

Luxurious 23-karat-gold paint
was used inside,

along with precious silks,satin, and a lot of gold tassel.

-Queen Victoria put £700 of
her own money into the design

and fitting out
of this carriage.

It was very lavish, it was
opulent, it was very stylish.

You can see elements
of her taste

and her style in the colors,in the materials, in the finish.

Everything in here is beautiful.

-Victoria saw no reason
why her carriages

shouldn't have every luxury
available to her at home.

And being sovereign
of 54 colonies,

she always got her way.

So, when she left her palace
for her train,

she quite literally tookeverything but the kitchen sink.

-She took everything that she
could from Buckingham Palace --

her furniture, her clothes,
her belongings,

her jewels, her books,
all her favorite servants.

And it was a gigantic operation,

not only getting everyone
on the Royal Train,

but packing the Royal Train,and then eventually getting this

rather weighed-down train
out of the station.

-In the carriage,
she had her attendants

and ladies in waiting,

and she could call those
whenever she wanted.

So you have a button
for the attendant there,

and you have a button
for her dresser there.

This is duplicated
at the other end of this table

so that the Queen didn't
have to get up.

It's also said on occasions
that the Queen used

the attendant's bellto get the engine driver to stop

so that she could
admire the views,

particularly up in the wilds
of Scotland,

heading towards Balmoral.

♪♪

-But Victoria didn't like
every view from her carriage.

Traveling through the Midlands,
she lowered her blinds,

appalled at the sight of
the grim industrial towns.

And this wasn't
the only incident.

-There was one occasion
at Newcastle Station

in which she very pointedly
drew down the blinds

because she was very offended

because she'd had a big banquet
at Newcastle Station,

and then the bill had been sent
to Buckingham Palace.

And that, to her,
was pretty shocking.

So when she went through,
she pulled down the blinds

and refused to look out.

-But despite some
unsavory views,

Victoria set about exploring

the length and breadth
of her country by train,

a much easier task by 1900,

as 18,680 miles of railway
zigzagged across Britain.

-For Victoria, she really felt

as if it was her duty
to see her people.

And she'd been schooled in that,
really, from a very young age.

And the train was a brilliantly
effective way of her

traveling around the country,

and yet retaining
much more privacy

than she'd ever had
in the horse-drawn carriage.

-But her journeys
weren't as whistle-stop

as they could've been.

Queen Victoria insisted
on disembarking to dine

and even enforced
a strict speed limit.

-The Queen insisted on
a traveling speed of 40 miles

an hour in the daytime
and 30 miles an hour at night.

-She was not permitting
the train to go very fast.

She thought it would be
bad for her health.

-This didn't just make
Victoria's trips

unnecessarily long.

When her train was on track,

any common traveler
had to move aside.

-The Royal Train took precedent
over every other train moving.

Whether it was an express train

or a parcels train
or a coal train

or a goods train,
everything had to stop

to let the Royal Train
go through.

-Victorians were great
innovators,

so the Queen not
only traveled in style,

she also had all
the latest gadgets.

But while she might have
held up her subjects

on every royal journey,

Victoria's train was also
a force for good.

Railway engineers used the
royal carriages to test-drive

some cutting-edge innovations

that would revolutionize
train travel for everyone.

-In the 1890s, the Royal Train
was fitted with electric light.

It was one of those new
inventions that everyone said,

you know,
the royal family must have

because it was thought,
you know, the Queen

would endorse this new power.

You can also see there's these
lovely lampshades

that would've gone round,
made out of silk,

which you could have come
and just dimmed

the light a little bit there.

Beautiful.

-And the mod cons
didn't end there.

The Queen's carriage was also
one of the first

to have its own --
[ clears throat ] --

throne room.

-The royal toilet, of course,

reflects every other part
of the train.

It's opulent, it's stylish,
it's good-quality materials.

And again, it's the Queen
endorsing new technology.

"Toilets on trains is new ideas,
and the Queen's got one."

-But although more than happy
to adopt

these new inventions
in principle,

in practice,
it was a different story.

-I'm afraid to say
that she wouldn't use it.

She refused to use it.

Instead, she made the train stop
every two hours or so,

so she could use a lavatory
on the earth.

♪♪

-But all this was just
the beginning

for the royal residence
on the tracks.

For the generations to follow,

the family train would need
to evolve with the times.

From becoming
an armored-plated palace

on wheels in a time of war...

-It was officially
a state secret until 1946.

Nobody knew it existed.

-...to its makeover
as a very private

home from home for the Queen.

-They sit down,
put their feet up,

kick their shoes off,
have a cup of tea,

and stroke the corgis,
they're away from the world.

-We lift the curtain
on a royal train

that's still making
headlines today.

♪♪

Since the reign
of Queen Victoria,

the well-upholstered carriages

and luxurious locomotives
of the Royal Train

have ferried members
of the royal family

the length and breadth
of the country.

But it's had to change
with the times.

Under the watch of the Queen's
grandfather, George V,

the Royal Train became
a much more utilitarian beast.

-George V had used the train

quite a lot
in the First World War.

He'd felt that during the times
of pervasion,

they could not ask for hotels
or sleeping accommodation,

so they'd sleep on the train,

and it became
a key part of his role as king.

-When his son and successor,

George VI,
inherited the family train,

it was once again set to play
a vital role in wartime.

Having served in the British
Navy during the Great War,

the King understood
just how important it was

for the monarchy to be visible
during difficult times.

-George VI saw it as
this really key role of his

to visit the war-torn country,

to see places
that had been bombed.

He really felt that this was
incredibly important.

And the train was the best way
of getting around.

The government were dubious
because they felt

he was a moving target.

But the King was adamant.

-And this war wasn't just fought
in battlefields

on the other side
of the Channel.

The conflict was also being
played out in Britain's skies.

With its white roof and flimsy
wooden carriages,

the Royal Train
was the perfect target

for the Luftwaffe's bombs.

And its thin walls left the
royal family at huge risk

from even glancing
collateral damage.

♪♪

-If there was an air raid threat

at the beginning
of World War II,

they would shelter the train
in tunnels

if there were royals
on the train,

and that would be
for protection.

But, of course, there wasn't
always a convenient tunnel,

and that's why they decided
to build the armor-plated one.

-So the Royal Train
evolved once again.

George's brand-new carriages
would, at the time,

become the most advanced
in the world.

Almost 80 years on,
they are the star attraction

at the National Railway Museum
in York.

-It's often described
as the "Armored Car."

At 56 tons, one of the heaviest
passenger vehicles

ever to run
on Britain's railways.

-Groundbreaking
welding techniques

allowed the King's carriages
to be built out of steel.

They were thought
to be bomb-proof.

-It certainly would've
stopped cannon fire

and machine-gun bullets.

And to add to that,
the double-glazed windows

were fitted
with armor-plated shutters.

-But keeping the royals
armored-plated wasn't enough.

-The attempt was made
to keep the journeys

as secret as possible.

The last thing
the government wanted

was that spies getting hold
of the timetable

of the Royal Train,
passing it to the Luftwaffe,

and it was really incredible,

that with all the bombing
across the United Kingdom,

the Royal Train
was not attacked.

-In fact, the biggest secret
of all was the train itself.

-It was officially
a state secret until 1946.

Nobody knew it existed.

When you see the old newsreels
of the king and queen

visiting blitzed cities,
troops, airfields, dockyards,

the chances are
they traveled in this train.

This vehicle was crucial
to the British war effort.

-In one month alone,

King George traveled 2,750 miles
on the Royal Train.

But keeping the Royals safe

didn't mean that they couldn't
travel in style.

-It really is a masterpiece
of art-deco design.

The lights, the telephones,
the clock.

-Queen Elizabeth,
King George's wife,

oversaw the renovations
on the train,

and she had rather
a key eye on detail.

-The writing desk is there

because when the King
wrote his letters,

he liked natural light to come
in over his left shoulder.

-George and Elizabeth
wanted to make this

the Royal Train of the future.

-This vehicle is
air-conditioned

when air conditioning wasn't
common in the U.K. at all.

It requires 5,600 weight of ice
to make it work.

And you look at the grills
and you think, "Well, so what?"

Except it's aluminum,
it's wartime.

We need aluminum for Spitfires.

And they insisted that it was
for essential war work,

and they got it.

-With key decisions of the war
decided on board the train,

every room needed to be secure.

-This is the Queen Mother's
bathroom.

If you look over here,
we have a cupboard.

Glass cupboard
with a door on here.

We are told that

that's where you put
your top secret documents.

If you need to come
to the bathroom

when you've got the plans
for D-Day with you,

you can't just leave themanywhere, you pop them in there.

-This, one of the first bathtubs
ever to be fitted on a train

in the U.K.,
also holds another secret.

From 1940,
as part of wartime rationing,

the public were toldto draw red lines on their tubs.

This was to stop the baths
filling too high

to save the fuel needed
to heat the water.

Until recently, it was thought
the Royals were at one

with their people.

But it may not have been
for quite the same reason.

-There's a red line in the bath,
and we had a visit

from His Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales

a couple of years ago,
and he said, "You can forget

all the stories about it being
a wartime economy measure."

He said, "Just think logically.

You're in the bath
full to the top,

traveling at 70 miles an hour

and the train
goes around a bend.

Where does the water go?"

He says,
"That's why you don't fill

the bath above the red line."

-And papers deep in the basement
of the museum

reveal one last secret
of the wartime train.

-We also have copious
correspondence in our archives,

between the palace
and the railway company

about the exact position
of the toilet-roll holder.

Nothing was left to chance.

♪♪

-30 years on,

the secret world inside
the famous claret carriages

was set to change once again.

The train, like our monarchy,
was evolving.

So if you're expecting
Buckingham Palace on wheels,

well, you may be disappointed.

Gone is the excess of Victoria,and the mod cons of King George.

The distinctly understated
new Royal Train

was presented to Her Majesty,
Queen Elizabeth II,

to mark her
Silver Jubilee tour in 1977.

-The great thing about
the Royal Train

is, of course, that you think
it's going to be

this amazing gilt-paneled,
very regal, decorated interior,

Virgin trains on acid, really.

But it's not at all.

♪♪

-Everyone presumes
that the Royal Train

is extremely luxurious,

and it's a bit like
the Orient Express.

But in practice, it's more
functional than flamboyant.

-And yet it is much loved.

The train's nine coaches
may not be lavish,

but they provide a practical and
simple comfort for the royals

to carry out their duties
on the move.

-That's a good idea.
I'm sure it's very worthy.

-You can see the Royal Train
is made up of bedrooms,

bathrooms, lounge, dining areas.

-The Queen, Prince Philip,
and Prince Charles,

all had their say in the finalpoints of the carriages' design.

But with a modest refit budget
of £320,000,

it's more Network Rail
than Orient Express.

-The Queen has her own
personal compartment.

She has her own bed.
There aren't any double beds

on the Royal Train.

It's just three foot,
I'm told, across,

decorated with Scottish
landscape scenes on the wall.

-But when it came to
the royal bathroom,

the Queen finally allowed
herself a little lap of luxury.

But unlike her mother --
who had a red line placed

to stop spillage of water --

the Queen has her own protocol
in place,

to make sure she can enjoy
a full tub without a mess.

-It is said that she quite likes
to have a regular bath.

And when that happens,

the train driver is instructed
to stop in a siding,

so that waters don't slosh
over the royal tub.

-And husband Philip
also had his personal foibles

attended to.

-His Royal Highness
Prince Philip

has a shaving mirror mounted
next to his toilet.

-So you can sit on the toilet

and look
in the mirror and shave.

And that was one of the little
design details

that wasn't incorporated
in the original build.

♪♪

-It's a train designed to make
sure the family are ready

for their next
royal appointment,

as efficiently as possible.

And just as King George
was determined

not to let war stand in the way
of reaching his people,

the Royal Train has once again
had to adapt to the times

to keep
the family safe on the move.

-There was a threat of violence
from the IRA.

[ Explosion ]

So when the Royal Train
was refitted in the mid '80s

at the cost
of several million pounds,

part of the specification
for the new refit

was that it should be able
to withhold an attack

from a rocket,

from machine-gun fire,
and from bombs.

-For extra security,

the details of each journey
are highly classified,

and even the identity
of the royal planning to travel

is kept secret from staff
working on board.

-Now, I never knew
who was on the train.

I used to get the papers
and everything, say,

"Go to Euston,
pick it up empty."

So I could never say to my wife
or any of me family,

"I'm going out
with the Queen today."

I couldn't do that!

I never knew who was on it,
and I didn't want to know.

♪♪

-It is a means of moving people

in a secure way
around the country.

Whether it is on a two-day visit
or a one-day visit,

it's a secure operation.

♪♪

-For five generations,

the Royal Train
has transported our monarchy

to royal engagements
and country estates.

But it's also performed
a more poignant task.

-The Royal Train has played
an important part

in funeral arrangements.

The reason for that, is that
several royals have died

not in Buckingham Palace
but in their country retreat.

♪♪

George V and George VI
both died in Sandringham.

But the most difficult episode
was when Queen Victoria

died on the Isle of Wightat her retreat at Osborne House.

-Victoria's first ever journey
on the train,

when she was just 23,

she went from Slough
near Windsor to Paddington

and fell in love with the train.

And then, her final journey
on the train

was the one that was taking her
to Windsor,

to be buried
in the Royal Mausoleum.

And that, I think,
is an incredible symmetry.

♪♪

-When George VI died and he had,
obviously, a state funeral,

the tracks were lined four,
five, six people deep,

all wanting to see
the Royal Train

traveling very slowly with
the monarch's body on board.

They wanted to pay
their respects

at the passing of the king.

[ Bell tolls ]

-45 years later,
in September 1997,

the nation united to mourn
the death of Diana,

Princess of Wales.

And on the day of her funeral,

as the country
and the world looked on,

the Royal Train
played a vital role.

-One of our duties

was to take the mourners
from the Spencer family

and the Prince of Wales
and the Princes

to Long Buckby Station
for the interment at Althorp.

As the train

run into Northampton
over the M1 Motorway,

we looked out the windows
and the hearse carrying

the mortal remains
of the Princess

was traveling on the motorway
just below us.

I found that quite
a poignant moment.

♪♪

-For those who have served
on the Royal Train,

it has offered a rare insight
into the Windsors

at close quarters.

-And the door opens
and Her Majesty

stands there in her nightdress.

-We get a glimpse at
the private life of the family

behind those carriage doors.

-I said, "Do you know
who that was, Sidney?"

He said, "No."
I said, "It was Lady Diana."

"It wasn't.
It wasn't."

♪♪

-Traveling by Royal Train
is seen as a huge privilege.

From private secretary
to police bodyguard,

when Queen Elizabeth travels inthe most exclusive of carriages,

she is supported
by a tight-knit team

with years of loyal service.

-The Royal Train is
the flagship of the fleet.

It looks like another train.

But once you're through
the doors,

the similarity disappears.

It's got to be the best train
to work on.

♪♪

-Our friendly name for it
was the "Shining Express."

It was like being in the Army
or the RAF or the Navy.

It was a team.

-Traveling on the Royal Train's
rather special.

I've done it twice --
once with the Prince of Wales

and the other time
with the Queen.

It's a lovely way of traveling.

And then you go along
the corridor,

and you sit down
in the dining room,

and you have breakfast
with the principal.

And it's terrific.

-It simply has to be the most
romantic train in Britain

and the best way to travel,
if you can.

♪♪

-Limitations are rare
and for good reason.

This is the Queen's
mobile home from home.

She has said that it is one of
the few places left on earth

where she can relax
in total privacy.

-Well, do we think
that this is a good idea?

We don't know what it's about.

-No.

-Crucially, the staff
on the train know

what the royal passengers
require,

so the moment the royals
get onto that train,

the doors shut,
they sit down,

put their feet up,
kick their shoes off,

have a cup of tea,
and stroke the corgis.

They're away from the world.

It's a traveling home for them.

-The art of delivering
the ultimate in legal service

for this royal residence
on the move

takes experience
and perfect timing.

-One of the finer skills

of being a member
of the Royal Train staff,

is the art of invisibility.

Although we are unintrusive
and in the background,

it is important to knowthe schedules of the principals,

such as what time
they're going to bed,

what time they're going
for breakfast,

what time they're having a bath,

what time they're
going for dinner.

That allows us access
to their areas,

and other areas on the train,
to maintain any repairs

or maintaining the presentation.

-But with a family and staff
living and working across

nine small carriages,

it's not always possible
to keep a discreet distance.

-We were taking Her Majesty and
His Royal Highness to Scotland

for their summer holidays
at Balmoral.

I had a phone call to say that
all the communication systems

had gone down,
and it had to be fixed.

So I found out that Her Majesty
had retired.

I opened the door
into the lounge,

and there were nine corgis
in the lounge.

So I closed the door,
and thought...

I didn't know what to do.

And the door opens,
and Her Majesty

stands there in her nightdress.

He stands back, quite shocked.

I stood back, quite shocked.

And he said,

"I've just come to checkon the corgis before I retired."

And he settled them down,

and I bid Her Majesty
good night.

I had to sit down for
a few minutes, I have to say,

because I was no fit state

to start dealing
with electricity.

[ Laughs ]

♪♪

-Dining on the train
is a little different

from your average buffet car.

Edward VIII insisted on
eating food that had been shot,

caught, or trapped
on his own estates,

while Queen Victoria believed
it was unnatural and harmful

to the digestion
to eat while on the move.

For our Queen,

meals are prepared
by a full kitchen staff,

and are cooked to the standard
expected in the Royal Palaces.

-There's a huge number
of royal chefs,

and a number of them will be
borrowed by the Royal Train

when the Queen
has to make a visit.

And they will produce food just
as good as any of that cooked

in Windsor Castle
or Buckingham Palace.

-The chef and the steward
would try to ensure that,

because of their vast experience
and long service,

they'd effectively know what
the Royal Family would require.

So most things were there.

Anything else that was required
would be fetched from Tescos.

♪♪

-It shows you
the way you can drive.

-It does, that's right.

-Prince Charles likes to dine
with guests on board the train.

-...is an awareness raisable?

-In the 12-seater dining car,

staff must have
his monogrammed china

and crystalware ready
for any occasion.

And when passing through Wales,
his Royal Highness insists

that the chef
uses local produce.

But not all the family
are quite so demanding.

♪♪

The Queen
and the Duke of Edinburgh

enjoy a traditional
afternoon tea,

accompanied by Her Royal
Highness's favorite aperitif,

one-third gin, two-thirds
Dubonnet, served on ice.

♪♪

And when the Queen Mother
entertained on board,

she would often have her
favorite treat to hand.

-She had this
big box of chocolates.

She loved chocolates,
the Queen Mum.

And she would ask me,

"Mr. Pelham Turner,
would you like a chocolate?"

And, "Yes, ma'am,
I'd love a chocolate."

And then she would hand you
a chocolate.

She used to give you
all hard centers, you know,

because she couldn't eat
the hard centers anymore,

and she kept the soft centers
for herself.

That's was
the Queen Mother for you.

♪♪

-Whilst most meals are planned
well in advance,

when you work for the Royals,you've got to keep on your toes.

-I've only seen the
Chief Steward flummoxed once.

And that was when a member
of the Royal Family,

after being asked what they
would prefer for breakfast,

said that
they would like yogurt.

It was established that
there was no yogurt on board.

So a hasty phone call was made

via the British
Transport Police,

to officers in Carlisle,
who scoured the corner shops

and filled a carrier bag
up with various yogurts,

which were delivered as wepassed through Carlisle Station.

Yogurt is served.
[ Laughs ]

-It's not just the menu
that is meticulously planned.

Planning for use of the train

transpires
a few months in advance

so that all the details
from the train's engine

to the soup spoon

can be inspected
and attended to accordingly.

Her time on the tracks alsoneeds to be carefully scheduled.

When Queen Victoria
was on the move,

the rail network around
her ground to a halt.

But over 100 years later,

Queen Elizabeth takes
a very different approach.

-Using the Royal Train
on mainline

is not the same as a motorcade.

It is, to all intents
and purposes a regular service,

but it's a regular service
working in irregular hours.

It will drop the Queen off,
and it'll move off,

so there's no disruption
whatsoever.

It's just another train
on the line.

However, this is not a train
you'd like to be caught behind.

Whilst the fastest train
in Britain

might have a top speed
of 200 miles per hour,

the Queen's carriage can trundle
along at a third of that pace.

In fact, it travels so slowly

that it's one of the few trains
in the country

to have its own on-board
signaling inspector,

a position Bill Sankey held
for nearly 30 years.

-Me job there was to facilitate
a 70-mile-an-hour train

runningamongst 100-mile-an-hour trains.

We had to go on different lines
and put them round us,

'cause they were the people
that were paying.

They had to get
where they were going.

-It may have been a serious job,
but that doesn't mean

Bill couldn't have fun.

And the royals would
sometimes join in.

♪♪

-On the Royal Train,
I liaised with the signalers.

On one journey, I contacted
the signalman, my mate Sidney.

Princess Diana, she came down
into my office, and I said,

"Mum, would you like
to do me a favor tonight?"

She said,
"Well, what -- if I can."

And I said to her,

"Would you mind reading
this out to Sidney?"

And she did.

I said,
"Did you get that Sidney?"

"Yeah."

So it's a fortnight later,
we're in this public house

in Warrington.

I said, "Do you know
who that was, Sidney?"

He said, "No."
I said, "It was Lady Diana."

"It wasn't."
"It wasn't."

He goes, "Bugger off!"

♪♪

-But behind the japes,
Bill and the team

knew that they were tasked
with getting their train

from A to B, exactly as planned.

-When any part
of Royal travel happens,

it's done to the second.

-The operating staff pride
their selves in an arrival

within plus or minus
15 seconds of the given time.

-Often packing in multiple
appearances every day,

Royal schedules have to beplanned with military precision.

And causing any delay
is not the done thing,

something royal photographer
Ian Pelham Turner

knew all too well

when he hit a problem
during one royal engagement.

-I'd been assigned one day
to photograph the royal family

boarding the train
to go to Ascot.

Everything was going
extremely well.

The Queen, Prince Philip,
Charles, Anne.

And then,
the Queen Mother turned up,

and that's when this thing
went terribly, terribly wrong.

The problem was was that theflash didn't fire on the camera.

She looks at
the look terror on my face,

I was panicking,
to say the least.

So my heart was beating away,

the Queen was banging
on the window,

and I could feel all
this pressure upon me.

And then there was a holein the roof of Waterloo Station,

and this shaft of light came
down and hit the red carpet.

And she walks
into the spotlight,

I take her photograph.

She's smart, and she had
that cheeky smile on her face,

and she winked at me
and walked on the train.

I think I'm the only
photographer

ever to hold up the Royal Train.

That's my claim to fame.

-The lion's share,
of the responsibility

for keeping
the royal journey on track

falls on the shoulders
of the royal driver,

a tremendous responsibility
that comes with one of

the most sought-after positions
on the railway network.

Chosen from a handpicked pool
of 150 experienced drivers,

these are the crème de la crme
of the rail industry.

-They always picked
a senior driver,

and it was more or less
a real credit for him

to be driving the Royal Train.

Imagine, he's been a driverat Edge Hill, Liverpool, Euston.

And to be told, "Tonight, you're
gonna drive the Royal Train."

Absolutely fantastic!

-In fact, it's a point of honor
with Royal Train drivers

that their starts and stops
are so smooth, nobody notices.

But it takes some skill.

-Prince Charles, as a boy,

was fascinated
by the Royal Train

and by how the train driver
was so precise to line up

quite brilliantly the Queen's
door with the red carpet.

I mean, that is precision.

-I can tell you
from driving trains,

it is a hell of a skill.

-The Duke of Edinburgh
specifically would find

that quite hilarious,
"Are we gonna hit the mark?"

-For a train driver, stopping
exactly in the right spot

is one of the more challenging
things that we're asked to do.

♪♪

[ Train whistle blowing ]

-That's the tell the signalman
we're clear of the signal.

-With a margin of error
of just 6 inches,

bringing the Queen's
carriage door to a perfect stop

right in front
of the red carpet

requires a very steady hand...

-Right, we're going in.
[ Train whistle blows ]

-...as driver Roland Law
hopes to demonstrate.

-We're just rolling into
the station now gently.

I'll be not going too fast
so that I can spot the position

that should put the coach
right beside the red carpet.

So just a bit of steam
to get her going,

and then we'll coast
into the platform.

And I'll start using
this brake here.

Easy to stop within a foot.

To stop within an inch
is quite a lot more difficult.

-Inevitably, with this level
of precision parking,

things don't always go to plan.

-There was one occasion
we were taking

the Queen
and the Duke of Edinburgh

for a morning service
in Bristol.

And something had gone wrong
with the planning,

and as we pulled into
Bristol Temple Meads,

I opened the doors,
and I dropped the step.

And the Queen, Her Majesty
came through,

and she said,
"Where's Lord Lieutenant?"

I said,
"Well, actually, Your Majesty,

they were at the wrong end
of the platform,

and he's currently
running down the platform

with his ceremonial
just sort of between his legs."

[ Laughs ]

And Her Majesty
and the Royal Consort

sort of fell about
in fits of laughter.

One of a few instances where
we didn't get it quite right.

[ Air hissing quitely ]

♪♪

[ Air hissing loudly ]

-And we should be there.

How did we go?
Did we get there?

Hit he mark.
Excellent!

-But whilst the team behind
our Royal Train

may still know how
to hit the mark,

could it be the end of the line
for the most famous

locomotive in Britain?

-The Royal Train is a throwback
to a bygone era.

It's the last vestige
of imperial power.

-Or have the next generation

of royals
already fallen under its spell?

-It was the Queen saying,
"Welcome to the family."

[ Cheers and applause ]

-After losing the Royal Yacht
Britannia

♪♪

...the palace have
strongly asserted

that Britain's most famous
locomotive needs to continue

as an integral fixture
of regal life.

♪♪

After 150 years in service
to five generations of royals,

it still makes
quite an entrance.

-The Royal Train is part of
the spectacle of royalty,

the performance of royalty.

-The royal family do not have
that much formal power.

What they do have
is a visual impact.

They're there for show.

It's a grand entrance,

it makes a statement,
it connects with the people.

-But will the family train
be as beloved

by the next generation
of royals?

It looks as if the Queen
may be doing her beset

to keep it on track
and share its many charms.

-Well, Meghan's trip
on the train last year

was to accompany the Queen.

The Queen was going to Cheshire,

and the Queen asked Meghan
to accompany her,

and you don't say
no to the Queen.

[ Cheering,
camera shutters clicking ]

-I think Meghan's first royal
engagement with the Queen

was a very important signof her inclusion and acceptance.

[ Cheers and applause ]

-Now, when the Royal Train
chugged into Runcorn Station,

there to greet the royal party
was a platform

full of school kids
all waving Union Jacks,

there was a brass band,

there was a Lord Lieutenant
done up in his finery.

It all made wonderful
royal theater.

-It was the Queen saying,
"Welcome to the family,"

in the same way she did
with the Duchess of Cambridge.

-Now, without the Royal Train,
without this theater prop,

this stage prop, it wouldn'thave made quite the same impact.

[ Children cheering ]

-Nevertheless, putting on such
an impressive royal performance

does not come cheap.

Meghan's day trip with the Queen
cost a staggering £29,714.

-Royal travel is expensive.

It costs millions of pounds
every year,

if you look at all the members
of the royal family.

-It is four times more expensive
than going by air.

It is £52 per mile,
as opposed to £12 per mile,

so it is really
a big-ticket item.

-And it's paid for
by the U.K. taxpayer.

It comes out of
the Sovereign Grant.

So I think it's right that
a spotlight is shone upon

exactly how much all this costs.

I think we have to know that
we're getting value for money.

-But not every train journey
taken by the Queen,

has the same pageantry

and price tag
as the Royal Train.

-The Queen, for example,

we use Thameslink
to go up to King's Lynn

when she goes to Sandringham
for Christmas and New Year.

-She always goes from
Kings Cross to King's Lynn,

and she always buys her,
I think, £45

first-class
rail travel ticket, one-way.

'Cause, of course, she can't use
the return within a month,

'cause she's not coming back
until February.

-It'll be a regular train,
they'll be other people on it.

The portion that she's in
will be cleared

for security purposes.

But the rest of the train
will carry passengers,

and she'll get off the other end

like anybody else
gets off the other end.

[ Camera shutters clicking ]

♪♪

-In a world where steam
no longer curls

over train platforms,

and our railway network has been
overstuffed with commuters,

the Royal Train can still
transport us

to a better era of travel.

-The Royal Train is a throwback
to a bygone era.

It's the last vestige,
really, I kind of think,

of imperial power,
not just royal power.

The ability
to click your fingers

and have a whole train
at your disposal.

-There are those who say,
"Well, it's overpriced,

it's expensive,

it's gone past its sell-by date
in the 21st century."

It's still functional.

People still travel by train.

There's no reason why
the royals shouldn't, either.

-When the Royal Train
stops running --

'cause it will do
at some stage --

it will be the end of a bit ofsocial history, railway history,

royal history, all those things
rolled into one.

♪♪

-But for now,
for those who know her best,

there is life
in the old girl yet.

However,
for our globe-trotting royals,

the train is a part
of a bigger story

of what it takes
to keep Britain's

most famous family on the move.

♪♪

Next time...

-The plane has made Elizabeth

our most traveled monarch
in history.

-From the moment air travel
was invented,

our monarchy have taken
to the skies.

-We were doing 1,200
royal flights a year.

-Behind every journey, there has
been an extraordinary team

tasked with looking after
our royals in the air.

-When they go aboard,they're ambassadors for Britain.

-I've been on a plane
with Kate and William

where all Kate's dresses
had their own seat.

-As we reveal the secrets
of the royals in the air.

♪♪

-To order this program on DVD,
visit ShopPBS

or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

This program is also available
on Amazon Prime Video.

♪♪

♪♪

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