Your (commuter) carriage awaits! Thrifty Queen catches ordinary passenger train on her journey to Sandringham for Christmas



There was a buzz at King’s Cross this morning as platform 11b began crawling with police.

Could it be a drug bust, the crowd wondered? Or was a rock star about to board a train?

Then a small lady in a headscarf appeared, a handbag on one arm and a posy on the other.

Fellow passengers on the 10.45 First Capital Connect service to King’s Lynn couldn’t quite believe their eyes as the Queen stepped on board a first class carriage.

Look who I saw down the station: A fellow passenger snaps Her Majesty as she boards a First Capital Connect train at King's Cross Station bound for King's Lynn, Norfolk, en route to Sandringham for Christmas

The royal train: A first class ticket for the 95-minute journey costs £44.40 while a standard fare is £27.70

‘The Queen on a First Capital Connect – unbelievable!’ exclaimed Andrew Smith, who was making the same journey for a business meeting.

‘My wife will never believe me.’ Relatively speaking there was minimal fuss, although some travellers reacted angrily when police shut off the area without warning five minutes before the train was due to leave.

The monarch, with a few attendants, sat at the rear of the train in an eight-seat section of a carriage which was separated from the rest of the seats by a sliding glass door.

As the train pulled out she took her place by the window next to one of her protection officers and looked out at the scenery.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II accepts a posy of flowers before she boards the train

The Queen, 83, appeared perfectly relaxed as she chatted with her aides for the first leg of the 100 mile journey to King’s Lynn, the nearest station to Sandringham.

But after the train’s stop at Cambridge a secretary opened a briefcase and the Queen spent most of the rest of the journey opening and reading her Christmas cards.

Other first class passengers who tried to join her compartment were told by the four plain-clothes royal protection guards to sit in another first class section in the train.

First among equals: The Queen looks out of the window as she sits beside a Royal Protection Officer

Only a toddler penetrated the tight security as he ran up the alleyway followed by his father and pressed his nose against the glass.

He was too small to reach the button to open the door. But he did win a cheery smile from the Queen.

Asked by a passenger, one security guard confirmed that the Queen – and all her attendants – had bought tickets for the journey.



A first class open return bought on the day costs £86, but the guard joked: ‘It was probably a super saver advance – and she does get a discount as an OAP, remember.’

An advance first class ticket, without the seniors’ discount, costs £44.40.

When the train arrived at King’s Lynn at 12.20pm sharp, the Queen was met by a Range Rover.

Face in the crowd: A police officer waits for the Queen as she gets off the train at Kings Lynn. She travelled with the minimum of protection

She then sped away for the seven-mile journey to Sandringham, her Norfolk estate, where she will be spending Christmas with the rest of her family.

She was not accompanied by her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, as he already made the journey a few days ago. A First Capital Connect spokesman confirmed the Queen had not been given any special treatment and that her tickets had been purchased in advance.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman added: ‘Members of the Royal Family, including the Queen, frequently use scheduled train services.

‘We have to look at issues such as cost effectiveness and security but do try to when it is appropriate.’