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Trainspotters and royalists, brace yourself for some bad news. After 175 years of faithful service, the monarchy’s most lavish mode of transport (after the Royal Yacht, RIP) is being quietly put out to pasture. Yes, the royal train is being retired in the near future – all as part of King Charles’ efforts to modernise the monarchy and tighten some Palace purse strings. Turns out the Cozzie Livs really does affect us all.
The nine-carriage claret-coloured locomotive has long been the Crown’s preferred way to trundle through the countryside in style, complete with plush furnishings, private bedrooms and (presumably) not a single overzealous ticket conductor in sight. Now that’s luxury.
It’s eye-wateringly expensive, though. And it’s publicly funded, costing £800,000 in 2020-21 alone, and £1.3 million the year before that – a cost to the taxpayer that’s increasingly hard to justify in an age of delayed Avanti services, austerity and £7 Pret sandwiches.
So, now, The Royal Engine That Could (as literally no one calls it) is officially being decommissioned. And, in its place, there’ll be two new fuel-efficient helicopters ferrying around the Royals instead, which, let's be honest, is way cooler.
Train fans needn’t despair, though, as the royal railway relic isn’t disappearing for good. Some parts of it are being lovingly preserved, with a long-term home for them being scoped out already, meaning you might soon be able to cop a look at the HRH Express yourself. Or bits of it, anyway.
The train’s retirement is all part of a wider royal refresh. But if you thought this was about serious cost-cutting, think again. The Sovereign Grant (AKA the public money used to fund the royal family’s official duties) is set to rise from £86.3 million to a whopping £132 million between 2025 and 2027 – an increase to help cover the final stretch of Buckingham Palace’s £369 million refurbishment.
Plus, royal travel costs are already up to £4.7 million per year, with the number of individual journeys costing more than £17,000 almost doubling in a year. And you thought Uber’s surge pricing was bad.
Still, one Royal Bentley now runs on biofuel, electric vehicles are on the cards, and the royal train has been quietly taken off the tracks. It’s streamlining, sure. Just with a bigger budget.
Selfridges is launching a private members’ club.
The major east London train station getting a dazzling makeover.
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