i * Look inside the royal travelling wardrobe * trooping of the Colour * Royal Engagements * Great Britain History * The Royal Train * Prince Charles * Britains Royalty & Links * Revolution at The Palace * The State Opening of Parliament * The Queen's Speech *
Look inside the royal travelling wardrobe. Elizabeth Grice. 2009.07.25.
The Queen's personal commitment to The Commonwealth, celebrating its 60th anniversary is unparalled. Oddity and splendour characterise the modern Commonwealth - a curiously loose but enduring association of countries. The State Rooms of Buckingham Palace open from 26th July - 30th September, 2009.
Queen and Commonwealth: The Royal Tour a special exhibition at this years Summer Opening of Buckinham PalacePhoto: EDDIE MULHOLLAND
Some of the magnificent dresses she has worn and the strange gifts she has been given on a prodigious 175 royal tours to 53 countries go on show tomorrow.
The "family of nations", has inspired some of the Queen's most heartfelt declarations, beginning in Cape Town on her 21st birthday in 1947, when she promised that her life "whether it be long or short" would be devoted to her people and the Commonwealth. On her accession, she called it the embodiment of "the highest qualities of the spirit of man: friendship, loyalty and the desire for freedom and peace." And in March this year, in her Commonwealth Day message, she said its shared values and "truly global perspective" were needed as never before.
The exhibition Queen and Commonwealth: The Royal Tour evokes some of great journeys of her reign, beginning with the longest, from November 1953 to May 1954, to the West Indies, Australasia, Asia and Africa. During this epic tour, the Queen acquired a rather tired-looking Maori cloak of brown kiwi feathers, a symbol of chieftainship which she still wears when in New Zealand, and several fabulous diamond brooches emblematic of the host countries. The tour covered 40,000 miles and called for an estimated eight tons of baggage.
Original sketches for her travelling wardrobe by the great British couturiers, Norman Hartnell and Hardy Amies (which The Telegraph publish here for the first time), can be seen alongside their translations into bead-encrusted duchesse satin, gold lame or silk crepe studded with pearls. Many of the dresses pay coded compliments to a country's own traditions. A bright yellow evening dress and cape for the visit to Australia in 1974 is embroidered with sprays of wattle, the national flower, and the ivory satin evening dress worn for a State dinner in Lahore during the tour of India and Pakistan in 1961 has a dramatic emerald green waterfall pleat down the back, reminiscent of a sari.
A star of the show is the grey silk organza evening gown that caused a sensation on the Queen's six-week tour of Canada in 1959. It is a ravishing Hardy Amies crinoline embroidered with mayflowers (emblem of Nova Scotia) and apple blossom and swagged with broad pink bows.
Simple offerings such a painted boomerang, a prized whale's tooth from Fiji or an open-topped model bus from Pakistan are displayed with as much reverence for their origin and significance as the dazzling dresses and jewellery that have given lustre to the Queen's travels. Caroline de Guitaut, curator of works of art at the Royal Collection, says the exhibition "tells the story of the amazing journeys of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh through six decades and reflects the great diversity of the Commonwealth nations." It is also a colourful tribute to the consummate networking skills and stamina of the Head of the Commonwealth herself.
The summer opening of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace is from tomorrow [July 26] to September 30. Admission by timed ticket: www.royal collection.org.uk Or telephone: 44+ 20 7766 7300.
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The Trooping of the Colour. 2009.06.13. Source: Agencies.
Britain celebrates queen's official birthday
Guards march during the Trooping the Colour ceremony, attended by Britain's Queen Elizabeth in London June 13, 2009. Trooping the Colour has honoured the sovereign's official birthday since the 17th century, and dates back to the earliest times of armed conflict when each leader needed his own flag or colours to stand out clearly amid the smoke and dust of battle, which led to regular trooping allowing soldiers to recognise the colours around which they should rally. [Agencies]
Prince Charles: our hardest working royal By Rebecca English 31st December 2008
Prince Charles has finally pipped his sister, Princess Anne, to be crowned the hardest working member of the Royal Family. According to a new 'league table' of official engagements, Charles conducted 560 last year compared to Anne who totalled 534. For as many years as anyone can remember, the Princess Royal has been acknowledged as the busiest member of the Windsor dynasty.
Prince Charles, pictured recently meeting schoolchildren in London last year
She is still unbeaten when it comes to glad-handing people out and about on the road, attending almost twice as many opening ceremonies and public visits as her brother, 299 compared to 166.
Charles, on the other hand, is beginning to take on their mother's mantle, carrying out an increasing number of investitures, meetings and audiences - 193 in total. The Princess Royal spends a lot of time out and about,' said royal watcher Tim O'Donovan, who complied the survey. 'The princess is incredible - she really gets down to it and is obviously very good at what she does.'
The Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, still carry out an astonishing number of official engagements given their advancing years - a staggering 771 between them - in addition to the red boxes off official papers that follow them everywhere.
Prince Charles has overtaken his sister Princess Anne to be crowned the hardest working member of the Royal family
At the age of 82, long past the official age of retirement, the monarch conducted 417 visits, a slight drop on last year, while her 87-year-old husband, who suffered a lengthy bout of ill-health last year, carried out 354.
When he was hospitalised with a nasty chest infection last spring, Prince Philip still insisted on aides bringing paperwork to his sick bed.
'They are amazing but they pace themselves. It is something they have been doing for umpteen years. And they don't have to worry about getting home and cooking the dinner, like you and I,' Mr O'Donovan said.
Once again the Duke of York carried out more overseas engagements than any other member of his family, cementing his 'Airmiles Andy' reputation - 293 out of 507 visits overall.
Buckingham Palace stress, however, that this is due to his position as Special Representative for International Trade and Investment.
The Queen and Prince Philip have notched up more than 770 official visits between them
Lower down on the list are the Countess of Wessex who, due to the birth of her second child and a period of maternity leave, carried out just 63 engagements last year, and Princes William and Harry, both of whom are pursuing military careers and do not have an official royal role as yet. They carried out 41 engagements between them.
The Duchess of Cornwall, who is often accused of being 'workshy' and ducked out of her husband's autumn tour to the Far East with aides claiming it was 'too gruelling' for her, carried out 217 official visits last year.
The figures are based on a survey of royal engagements as listed in the Court Circular submitted to The Times newspaper by royal watcher Tim O'Donovan, who has been calculating the figures for the last 30 years.
It is the only one recognised by Buckingham Palace, although courtiers are at pains not to officially endorse it for fear of creating a 'league table' mentality that could irritate their bosses.
'They hate the idea of a royal league table but would be irritated to be left off it and for their work to be ignored,' said one.
Great Britain, which likes to consider itself the pioneer of the modern democratic state, is thoroughly undemocratic in the choice of individual to Head of State. The monarchy is very much a family firm; the present occupant of the British throne, Queen Elizabeth II, can trace a line of blood descent, albeit occasionally distant, through all 62 previous monarchs of England to Egbert of Wessex, generally recognized as the first king to unite the tribes of southern Britain in 829 AD, and though an equally ancient line of Scottish kings to Kenneth MacAlpine, who established the kingdom of Scotland by uniting Pictish and Scottish tribes in 839AD.
There is no good reason why heredity is a better way of choosing the chieftain of the tribe than any other; it suits some tribes and not others. Indeed most of the tribes of the socalled civilized world have done away with kings. At the turn of this century virtually every country in Europe with the exception of France and Switzerland was a monarchy; today there remain only Great Britain , Norway , Sweden , Denmark , Belgium , Holland and Spain .
A Long Tradition
The British cannot claim to have invented hereditary monarchy, not even in Europe . When Egbert of Wessex took the throne, there were already kings of France and Poland , although both these thrones have long since been swept away. The British have kept it going longer than most, with only one break of 11years (1649 to 1660), when King Charles I put arrogance before judgement and lost his head at the hands of the Parliamentarian and religious zealot, Oliver Cromwell.
Some of the root causes of the English Civil War are still relevant. The absolute power of the monarch has been declining steadily since King John signed Magna Carta in 1215, until today it is practically non-existent. The real seat of power moved long ago from Throne to Parliament; the latter began as a motley assembly of barons and other magnates of the land. Some would suggest that tidya's House of Commons is little better.
The non-elected Upper House, (House of Lords) contains the descendants of at least some of those medieval grandees, and a group of 'Life Peers' or Barons, who are usually people who have held powerful positions in Parliament or are thought of as having contributed greatly to the Counrty - that fact, is highly debatable.
Lower House elected (but only in relatively recent times) by the population, with a few exceptions, is the 'House of Commons'.
Once upon a time kings became kings simply because they had more clout and muscle than anyone else in the land. Monarchy survives today for the very opposite reason: that it is so powerless no one can take serious objection to it. It is a magnificent charade, a smoothly functioning model of self-deception of a kind at which the British are particularly good. The pretense reaches a kind of climax every November when Queen Elizabeth, glitteringly attired and with the crown that is the world¡¦s most valuable single piece of jewelry on her head, formally opens the new session of her Parliament with a speech every word of which has been written for her by the politicians she has had no hand in electing.
The British still regard the monarchy as a useful and desirable institution. By its very age it is a hugely potent symbol of national identity; by being above party politics, and not subject to election every five years at most (as British governments are), it provides the State with a sense of continuity and a sense of last-bastion hope against the incompetence of often uninspiring politicians; and not least, it's a 'darned good show'.
Royal Clout
The monarch is also the only individual who can send the nation to war. Even when war is undeclared, as in the fight for the Falkland Islands in 1982, no government would dispatch the Navy without the consent of the Queen and the Privy Council, the monarch's chief body of advisers drawn from across the political spectrum.
It is, after all, the Queen's Navy and not the Government's. She is head of the Armed Services, and of the established Church of England . Soldiers and Bishops alike, swear allegiance to the Crown, not to the Prime Minister of the day.
Britain was once the world¡¦s mightiest imperial power, with an Empire on which the sun never set because, they said, 'God did not trust the British in the dark'. Since 1947 when she was persuaded to abandon India , Britain has been giving her Empire away, and the process is not yet finished, although 'Empire' is a word no one would use nowadays.
Most of the old colonies, however, learned from the United States and shuffled off the British monarch in favour of their own Republican Governments and their own head of state. Most, with the exception of South Africa, remain members of the Commonwealth, a loose and informal club, like a smaller-scale United Nations with a secretariat in London .
Whether the Commonwealth is a greater force for peace and harmony in the world than its big brother in New York is open to question, but it is certainly no worse. Queen Elizabeth is a fervent believer in the Commonwealth, and takes it very seriously. Visiting it assiduously has made her the furthest traveled monarch in history, and her calming and non-political influence behind the scenes in 1979, certainly helped the transfer of the old colony of Southern Rhodesia to the new republic of Zimbabwe with a good deal less bloodshed than had been threatened.
On foreign tours the Queen is at her highest profile, filmed and reported exhaustively in the host country and back home. But of her official and constitutional role in Britain as Head of State, there is in fact little to see.
Three-quarters or more of her working life is spent in an office, reading and signing State papers. Almost the only great occasion in which she is playing her role as Head of State is the grand and colourful 'Opening of Parliament' every November. It is always shown in full on television.
As Head of the Armed Services, she reviews her troops on her official birthday every June (she was actually born in April), in a ceremony of 'Trooping the Colour'.
The number of Britons who think that the institution of monarchy are positively undesirable is relatively small. There is a considerable body which thinks it is at worst irrelevant to the everyday problems of a post-industrial society, and at best, something to draw the tourists from abroad. There is a slightly bigger body of opinion which deplores the antics of the other members of the Queen's family and their generous allowance from public funds.
Seeing the Queen, or any other member of her family, requires a certain amount of dedicated detective work to discover where they will be on any given day. Royal engagements are notified on the back page of 'The Times', just above the crossword puzzle.
Royal Finance
The Royal family is rich by inheritance, by investments, by gifts, and by income from extensive ownership of estates and working farms. The great palaces and houses (with the exception of Sandringham and Balmoral, bought as private residences by her predecessors), are not hers; they are the property of the State, and even she would admit that the priceless paintings and furniture within them belong to the nation. However, like so many things British, it is a slightly grey area; if the Royal Family fled to Canada in the face of a revolution, might they not take a few Leonardo's with them, to see them through hard times?
Britain still has a substantial landowning aristocracy, with its subtle gradations of titles, from Royal Duke down to mere Baron. The oldest families were given their titles and lands by the early post-Conquest kings, in return for favors rendered. Later, other families rose to great power and wealth on the back of Britain' s huge medieval wool trade. Still later, great entrepreneurs of the first Industrial Revolution bought land from their satanic mills to the horizon in every direction, and groveled and bribed to be given a titles to add respect to their riches built on the backs of the laboring classes.
The grant of lands ended a very long time ago, in the late 18th Century Parliament took away most of the monarch¡¦s lands in return for which King George III was paid an allowance for doing the job, a system which still survives.
These noble families and their often enormous estates have survived for two main reasons. First, the proletarian revolution in Britain has been gradual, generally non-violent, and still has some way to go. Second, the law of handing on property to heirs has always been governed by primo-geniture, the principle that the eldest son inherits all, thus keeping the estate intact. In some other societies it has been the principle that the deceased's lands and property divide equally among all his sons, or even all his children. Thus were the people of 19th Century Ireland driven towards starvation and America ; their farms had become too small to be productive, and had room for only a single crop-the potato. The same happened in France.
Scotland has is great landowners too, many of them Englishmen who were given, or who bought at knockdown prices, the lands of the dispossessed Highland clans driven from their homes by fire and sword after the Jacobite rebellion of 174.
Britain is enormously rich in the stately homes of the aristocracy, but where revolution has failed to disperse such monuments to privilege, the British tax authorities are gradually winning. Tax on the death of a rich landowner is ruinous, and the nobility in their dozens are now obliged to show their homes to the public, some adding theme parks in their grounds and all manner of money-raisers, rock concerts for example. The pioneer was the present Duke of Bedford, who inherited Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire and a tax bill of millions. The magnificent house is still full of art treasures, but the grounds have become a safari park. The Marquess of Bath in his superb Jacobean pile at Longleat in Wiltshire has gone the same way, with Old Masters on the staircase and lions in the garden.
There are some common threads among the aristocracy. Most will have attended one of the cream of Britain¡¦s private schools (the British, typically, call them 'public schools', which is exactly what they are not, and causes difficulties of comprehension even amongst British people).
Most will not have gone to university, but will have preferred officer training at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, Britain's equivqlent of 'West Point', and will have been commissioned into one of the Army¡¦s prestigious Guards regiments, where many have distinguished themselves as fine soldiers.
The Navy and Air Force get far fewer of them; those services have become much too technologically advanced, and they don¡¦t have the same kind of social life. They are more interested in professional career officers.
The aristocracy may no be as rich as it once was, but it is still a comfortably-off and well-defined section of British society, a fact which its members will always try to deny. Again it survives because its real power is much reduced.
Below the aristocracy there is the teeming anonymous mass of the rest of us, at least 93 percent of the population - a figure arrived at because it is generally believed that 84% of British personal wealth is held by 7% of the people.
But even we commoners are allowed occasionally to peck crumbs from the table of privilege. Twice a year, at New Year and in June, British newspapers carry two myopically-typeset pages of names - the 'Honours List', medals given out to the good, the worthy, the dedicated, the long-serving. Order of the British Empire (OBE) in various grades: Knight (KBE) which brings the title 'Sir' for high civil servants; Commander for long-serving city bosses or big hospital managers.
And right at the foot of the page, arwards are strictly for the labouring classes: the long-serving doorkeeper, the retiring school cook. The bonus is not the medal they get to dangle on their breast, it's the day out at Buckingham Palace to have it pinned on personally by the Queen. Not that the Queen has much to do with picking the list; the Honours Office ids a government department. Another part of that wonderful royal charade.
The publication of the Honours List is the twice-yearly signal for the British to sneer and cock their snooks at the whole outdated apparatus of monarchy, class, aristocracy and honors. But if they get offered the lowliest place in the pageant, be it no more than a medal to pin on their chests, or a chance to shake the hand of the 43rd monarch of England since Willian the Conqueror, there are very few that turn it down.
* Although General Elections have to be carried out every five years, in fact, the Government can call an election at any time. For strategic reasons - namely that by choosing the right time they are likely to win, elections are usually called during the fourth year.
* The writer of this article is unknown and is presented in an edited form.
It is more exclusive than the Orient Express, more romantic than the Trans-Siberian Express, and the food is considerably better than on the East Coast mainline. The Queen loves it, claiming it is one of the few places left on Earth where she can kick off her shoes, put up her feet and relax in total privacy.
Prince Philip uses it as a mobile office, while both the Prince of Wales, who says he could not live without it, and his sister Anne, the Princess Royal, say it is their favourite form of travel now that the Royal Yacht Britannia is no longer in service. It is the Queen's mobile home-from-home: the Royal Train.
The Queen's bedroom, with pillows trimmed with lace
For 150 years it has been just as much a Royal residence as Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle or Balmoral.
Wherever the train goes it attracts an enormous amount of attention, with its distinctive 'Royal Claret' coaches. Yet apart from its passengers and staff, very few people know much about the extraordinary regal rolling stock. Now Royal expert Brian Hoey has been given unprecedented access to the train and offers a unique insight into Royal life on the move ...
What is the royal train?
It is the only private, non-commercial train service used by one family still in existence in the UK. However, Royal Train is something of a misnomer, implying that there is only one such vehicle. In fact the name is applied whenever a set of rail carriages and locomotives is used by the Royal Family, and the same number of coaches is not used every time.
At present there are nine coaches that can be assembled into whatever configuration is required, and for whom. It is only on very rare occasions that all nine are used as a single train, and then only when the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are travelling together. Otherwise, it is seven carriages.
Charles is the most frequent and regular passenger, and if the Duchess of Cornwall, who, unlike her husband, is not a lover of train travel, accompanies him as she often does on the long overnight journeys to Scotland, an eighth carriage is attached for her use.
A five-coach train is used for short journeys when no sleeping car is required.
The Queen and Prince Philip prepare to board the Train. The Queen's carriage
Her Majesty's personal saloon, or carriage, is now more than 30 years old, having been brought into service, along with the Duke's, in 1977 when both were used during the Silver Jubilee tours.
The body-shell of the Queen's saloon is 75ft long and fitted with secondary air suspension giving passengers an exceptionally smooth and comfortable ride.
It has a bedroom, decorated in light pastel shades, with a 3ft-wide single bed in one corner (there are no double beds on the Royal Train) made up with cotton sheets and woollen blankets. While Prince Philip's pillows are plain, the Queen's are trimmed with lace, with a small Royal cipher in one corner. The ceiling has subdued strip lighting and there are several reading lamps near the bed.
The adjoining bathroom has a full-size bath, but the fittings are modest and functional. The train operators make sure the carriages are not crossing any bumpy points just after 7.30am: that could make the water slop around when the Queen is taking her bath. The train's speed is always lower than the normal maximum for any route.
The sitting room has a sofa with hand-stitched velvet cushions, armchairs and the small dining table where the Queen and Prince Philip have breakfast. The table can be extended to seat six people. There is also a desk in one corner where Her Majesty works on her official papers. Even on the Royal
Train, after a full day's engagements, she spends an hour or two working on her 'boxes'. These are the red cases that go with her wherever she is in the world, containing official documents from Government departments, both in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, that have to be read and initialled.
The walls of the Queen's apartments are adorned with paintings of Scottish landscapes by the artist Roy Penny and there are also prints of earlier Royal Train journeys. The saloon is restful and very quiet, owing to the thick carpets.
Privacy is maintained by the curtains at every window and net drapes that enable the Queen to look out but which prevent anyone looking in.
The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales all have Roberts radios in their saloons, usually tuned to BBC Radio 4 as they like to wake up in the morning to the Today programme.
There are also several television sets and a music centre. A video player has been installed so Her Majesty can watch reruns of any races in which one of her horses has been running.
There are double doors on both sides of the carriage so that the Queen can disembark in style.
Charles has monogrammed stationery on his desk
The Duke's carriage
Prince Philip uses the train as a mobile office and his saloon has one extra piece of equipment that The Queen's does not possess: an all-electric kitchen that can provide meals for up to a dozen people. This is because Prince Philip often uses the train on his own, and the kitchen means he doesn't have to take the entire train.
His sitting room contains the usual sofa, armchairs and desk as well as a table that can be extended to accommodate 12 people for meals or used, as it more usually is, as a conference table.
The armchairs are comfortable but not of the deep 'sink-down' type because the Duke of Edinburgh's visitors are usually there on official business and he doesn't want them to overstay their welcome.
Prince Philip's bedroom is a duplicate of the Queen's, but the bathroom does not have a bath: he prefers a shower.
A small section of rail - a piece of Brunel's original broad gauge presented to the Duke on the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Great Western Railway - is framed and kept in a place of honour in his saloon, along with a blown-up version of his Senior Railcard which was given to him when he became eligible in 1987. No one knows if he has yet taken advantage of its discount.
Food and drink
Catering on the train is handled by the Rail Gourmet company. The meals are of superlative quality, even if comparatively simple by Palace standards, and the Queen has been served by the same senior railway steward, Ken Moule, for more than 20 years.
If the Queen wants afternoon tea with toasted teacake or an aperitif (her favourite is one-third gin, two thirds Dubonnet and lots of ice), if the Duke of Edinburgh wants a glass of Double Diamond beer, or kippers for breakfast, or the Prince of Wales asks for a Welsh rarebit made with his own organic cheese, the team will respond.
On a night-time departure, the Queen is offered light refreshments of smoked salmon, warm sausage rolls and chicken or egg sandwiches made with brown and white bread - all with the crusts removed.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are woken at 7.30am with the 'calling trays': Earl Grey tea for Her Majesty, with no sugar; coffee for His Royal Highness as he drinks only tea in the afternoon.
Liquid asset: The Queen has a bath in her carriage.
They meet to have breakfast together in Her Majesty's sitting room but are never joined by anyone else. It is one of the few times in the day when they will be truly alone and they treasure the opportunity to chat about private matters.
Ken Moule waits on them and the Queen always enjoys the same breakfast when she is on board: scrambled eggs and bacon, prepared by chef Martin Carter. Her Majesty doesn't always clear her plate as she is not a big eater.
All the morning newspapers are delivered to the train and one of the private secretaries marks anything he thinks might be of particular interest.
The one newspaper no one ever touches is The Racing Post, the 'bible' of the racing fraternity that is required reading at the Royal breakfast table every morning, no matter where the Queen is. Without this, it is said, she would suffer severe withdrawal symptoms.
If the Queen or Prince of Wales is to give a reception on the Royal Train, the stewards' first job will be to welcome guests on board and offer drinks. Always dressed immaculately, they carry silver salvers with crystal glasses of chilled champagne, buck's fizz or fruit juices.
For such occasions the Royal dining coach has a long middle table which can be extended to accommodate up to 12 guests. The table is laid with white linen cloths and dressed with beautiful flowers, gleaming silverware and sparkling glasses. The Prince of Wales insists on taking his own travelling crockery and cutlery sets on the train.
Place settings are carefully measured to ensure the appropriate space is laid for each guest. The stewards carry out their duties as if they were waiting at a State Banquet, but with slightly less formality because the Royal dining carriage is quite an intimate area where the Monarch and guests sit in relatively close proximity.
The present Royal Family has few extraordinary culinary demands, unlike some previous monarchs: Edward VII preferred to eat 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.
Charles pictured leaving the Royal Train in Scotland
Prince Charles's carriages
There are two coaches used by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. They were built between 1983 and 1985, when the Prince and Diana, Princess of Wales, used them. The Duchess now uses the Princess's former sleeping car.
Charles was involved in the early layout of the saloons and he ordered a number of features that are not standard, even in the Royal Train.
He personally chose the 11 pictures for his sleeping car. The painting immediately over his bed is of the former Royal Yacht Britannia. The en suite bathroom colour scheme is blue. In pride of place on the counterpane of his bed lies a tiny pot-pourri holder that was handmade by a young girl in Wales.
A door leads into the Duchess of Cornwall's carriage, which is pink. The panelling is Bird's-Eye Maplewood to match that of the Prince's. Her Royal Highness does not share her husband's taste for pictures: her carriage has only one.
Blackout curtains are drawn in the evening because she does not like any light to filter in during the night. Her en suite bathroom is also pink.
Although Prince Charles and his wife have separate sleeping compartments in the Duchess's carriage, only a thin partition wall separates them. Both beds are located in the centre of the coach: the most stable position.
Alongside the Duchess's bedroom is a small compartment for her dresser while adjoining Prince Charles's room is his valet's ' brushing room', where each evening he prepares the wardrobe for the next day's engagements. It is in the valet's workroom that Prince Charles likes to leave personal items such as his shaving brush and razor (he still uses a safety razor), his hairbrushes and cologne.
Who runs the train?
The railway companies, including Network Rail, who control the rail infrastructure; English Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS) who operate the train itself; Rail Gourmet, which provides all the meals and drinks on board; British Transport Police; the Fire Service and any other organisation that might be involved in the hundreds of details that have to be worked out before every Royal journey.
Who drives it?
There has never been a 'Royal Train Driver' but a hand-picked pool of around 150 very senior and experienced drivers. In theory they take it in turn, but the same 50 or so names appear on the roster time and again. The Queen and other members of the Royal Family like to see familiar faces around them.
It is a point of honour for the Royal Train drivers to make all departures and arrivals so smooth that the passengers hardly notice. When the train stops at its destination, the driver is not allowed to leave the cab, or even look out of the window, until the Royal party has departed.
Mobile home: Prince Charles's sitting room
The uninvited guest
Once, when the train was on its way to collect the Prince of Wales, it made a brief unscheduled stop at a station. No one noticed a middle-aged woman get on (there is no central locking on the Royal Train).
The first anyone realised there was an unauthorised passenger on board was when one of the crew walked through the dining car and saw her calmly sitting at one of the tables. When he explained that this was the Royal Train, she was completely unfazed and said she would get off at the next stop.
Ken Moule donned his best uniform to serve the unexpected guest the obligatory 'light refreshments', compliments of the Royal Train, before she was escorted from the train at the next station and taken to the platform where she could catch a normal train to her intended destination.
Overnight stops
The train doesn't travel through the night. It stops in a secluded siding well away from the main line so that the Royal passengers can have an uninterrupted night's sleep. The exact locations of these sidings, sited throughout the country, are given to a very few people on a strictly 'needtoknow' basis.
The fact that even today these places are referred to as 'stables' - and the tracks are called 'roads' - is a throwback to the time when travel was by horsedrawn carriage.
The overnight stops are usually made about an hour's travelling time from the final destination. This means the Royals are able to rise, bathe, dress, have a leisurely breakfast and then be briefed by their private secretary on the day's programme as the train completes its journey. Arrivals are usually timed so that they do not disrupt any normal rail schedules.
The royal loo
While Queen Victoria's was the first train in the world to have a lavatory installed on board - in 1850, at the suggestion of Prince Albert - only the Prince Consort used it in the early days of Royal progress. Members of the entourage who invariably accompanied the Queen had to wait until the train stopped and then use public lavatories.
The Duke of Edinburgh is another innovator in this area. In his tiny bathroom, his magnified shaving mirror is placed at face level to the right of the lavatory so he can sit and shave at the same time.
Planning
Train journeys are usually planned months in advance or even, as was the case for the Silver Jubilee in 1977, well over a year ahead.
This handmade potpourri holder is a favourite of Charles
Even Royal funeral arrangements, such as that of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, are worked out down to the smallest detail. Lord Mountbatten took a personal interest in his own funeral arrangements and had even chosen the menu for the meals to be eaten on the train by those accompanying his coffin from London to Romsey in Hampshire, where he was finally laid to rest.
Any rail trip by Royalty involves hundreds of men and women. Engineers and technicians check and double-check the locomotives that will power the train - there is always a spare - while the cleaners, upholsterers and painters who regularly service and maintain the carriages make sure everything is pristine.
An engineering car is attached to the train for every journey and there is a back-up power unit for electricity.
Communications
Mobile phones have made life much more comfortable for everyone on board. In the early days of the Royal Train it used to be the task of some unfortunate telephone engineer to shin up the nearest telegraph pole in all weathers to connect the carriages to the phone network whenever the train stopped at night.
Storage
When not in use, the Royal Train carriages are based at the railway town of Wolverton, near Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, site of a historic railway works. Once the Royal party have left the train it returns to Wolverton and the staff, most of whom are employed full-time elsewhere in the rail industry and released periodically for Royal Train duties, go back to their home towns. The shed where the Royal Train is housed is immaculate and the concrete floors are kept clear of any grease and dust. Two part-time staff look after the domestic side of the train, vacuuming and dusting.
Cost
Although the train is very popular with the Royal Family, helicopters and planes have replaced it for shorter journeys because they are faster and more economical.
A decade ago, the train was used for a total of 24 journeys with an average distance of 550 miles over the year. Last year it did 17 journeys with an average of 655 miles.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh used the train four times during that year. Their most expensive rail journey was in November when they travelled between Euston, Bedfordshire and Windsor. The Queen opened the Samuel Whitbread Community College in Shefford among her other engagements, and the journey cost £21,308.
The overall cost of transporting the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh by rail was £69,125 for the year.
Victoria, the first reigning monarch to travel by rail -s he paid for her own carriages
Queen Victoria became the first reigning sovereign to make a train journey when she travelled from Slough to Paddington, London, on June 13, 1842. In 1869 she commissioned a special pair of coaches at a cost of £1,800: a considerable sum in those days.
Victoria remains to this day the only monarch to have paid with her own money for Royal carriages to be built.
When her son succeeded to the throne as Edward VII, he ordered a completely new Royal Train in the second year of his reign, 1902, with the instructions that 'it is to be as much like the Royal Yacht as possible'.
The interior had bedrooms, dressing rooms, day rooms and a smoking room. It boasted three-speed electric fans, electric radiators and cookers and even an electric cigar lighter.
The King's favourite was his smoking room, which was manned by two liveried footmen, one just to light His Majesty's cigars and the other to adjust the curtains and windows in case the sunlight was too strong, or fresh air was required.
His son and successor, George V, had the distinction of installing the first bath on a train anywhere in the world.
The servants who provide Royal power
Two Class 67 diesel locomotives are used to pull the Royal Train: Royal Sovereign and Queen's Messenger, both of which were named by the Queen.
Built at a cost of £1.5million each in 1999, they are identical and are both based at the Toton rail depot in Nottinghamshire. They run on biofuel and should last for at least 30 years.
Neither is just for Royal duties: they are often seen pulling the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express in the UK. A third locomotive is kept as a reserve: the Royal Diamond.
Cherie Blair has used the Royal Train for a day trip
When Cherie was Queen for a day
Cherie Blair is the only non-Royal to have ever taken over the Royal Train - even though, in theory, it can be used by Government departments.
During the G8 Summit in 1998, Mrs Blair invited the wives of six of the world's leaders, including Hillary Clinton, to join her on a day trip from Birmingham to Little Kimble, the nearest station to Chequers, and back.
During the trip the train stopped briefly at a station and the VIP wives were surprised at the amount of noise coming from the platform.
The net curtains were drawn back and they found themselves face to face with a crowd of football fans on their way to the FA Cup Final. No one is sure which group was more taken aback.
• The Royal Train, by Brian Hoey, is published by Haynes at £19.99. To order your copy at the special price of £18 with free p&p UK (check details for postage abroad) call The Review Bookstore on 00 + 44 (0)845 155 0713.
Prince Charles: As the Prince of Wales turns 60, thoughts turn to his next big gig – and the dignified silence that will have to replace decades of passionate, vocal dedication to his many causes. By Emma Soames - Editor-at-large of 'Saga Magazine'* .
Prince Charles with Princes William & Harry in 2004.
Photo: Mario Testino commissioned to Mark Prince Harry's 20th birthday.
About 40 years ago (can it really be?) I went on a date with Prince Charles. It was certainly not like any other date I was accustomed to in those days, when most evenings consisted of dinner and a visit to at least one club, and featured tight satin trousers and lots of rock music.
The Prince invited me to the opera at Covent Garden. I had never been to an opera, let alone the Royal Opera House, but I rather enjoyed it. Now time has very much caught up with the Prince as he celebrates his 60th birthday – in that respect he is like me and all of our generation. But there are so many other ways in which he is not like the rest of us. For a start he has had the same job since he was 21. How many of us can say that? And it is a job without much of a description, other than waiting for his mother (Quen Elizabeth II) to die, an event that he no doubt dreads as much as most of her subjects. He is stuck in a holding pattern over the monarchy.
So it is no surprise that he is subject to periods of intense frustration that have become one of his most defining characteristics. Boy does he get angry. When his moods swing – and they do – objects fly, and his tongue can lash out at what he perceives as inefficiency or lack of progress. He is famous for his petulance. These are of course the characteristics of a spoilt man living in a bubble, but let us be sympathetic for a moment.
Although he may not have much to worry about on the personal ambition front, with his future mapped out before him, he is deeply ambitious for his causes. He almost seems to have a sense of destiny on their behalf. Above all he is a man in a hurry – to get so very many things done before he has to turn himself into a serene and (most tellingly) silent figurehead who must confine himself to ribbon-cutting duties and listening. If he follows his mother's example, which he would be well advised to do, he will never again express an opinion once he becomes king. No wonder he lets rip now: his life is like one long stag party before joining a Trappist order.
The range of subjects the Prince is interested in is truly impressive, and he has worked hard to get on top of them. The environment, spiritual philosophy, agriculture, integrated medicine, architecture, education, fostering community and business in community are all included; there is a book called Radical Prince by David Lorimer that takes nearly 300 pages to describe them all. That is quite a portfolio. Moreover, the Prince has a grip on all of them, as well as running the Duchy of Cornwall along strictly ecological and innovative lines.
Over the past three decades he has made 18 serious, major speeches; speeches that are more like manifestos – brimming with ideas and comment on the nature of society. These have been presented to, among others, the Soil Association, the centre for Islamic Studies, and the Royal Institute of British Architects; the subjects include spirituality and psychiatry, hospital design, the dumping of toxic waste, sustainability and even the plight of the albatross. I heard his contribution to the Reith Lectures of 2000, and it was an impressive and thoughtful performance. It pretty much encapsulated his entire philosophy: 'It is only by employing both the intuitive and the rational halves of our nature – our hearts and our minds – that we will live up to the sacred trust that has been placed in us by our Creator.'
Punchy stuff – but his style can be grating; he has a distinct tendency to use phrases such as 'I happen to think…', which reminds me of Uriah Heep's wringing hands, and imbues his speech with an aura of faux humility. I don't think he realises how annoying this is, and of course it raises another problem inherent in his position: there aren't many people around him who might criticise him for it. They get shown out, sharpish.
He has worked for more than 30 years to build up the Prince's Trust to the point where it is now Britain's leading charity for young people. (No one can accuse him of lacking perseverance or commitment.) It has more than 10,000 volunteers, 800 staff and a turnover of more than £46 million. It has helped 48,000 small business start-ups, and it must give its founder true satisfaction that as part of its New Deal the Government has bought into much of the work invented by the Trust. Imitation is in this case the sincerest form of flattery – it must be exactly what he hoped for. And I am struck by the focus and imagination of many of its programmes: such as the mentoring system in place for teenagers when they are released from the care system when, as we know, no one else is interested in them and they can so easily go into freefall.
At the same time as all this laudable work, members of successive governments must have often wished that there was someone to rid them of this troublesome prince with his enthusiasm for publicly expressing his passionate but sometimes wacky, controversial views, and his ongoing reluctance to stay in his box. And he repeatedly puts his foot in it. But I find it rather endearing that he doesn't shut up just for the sake of a quiet life, and at least his interventions are more Boris Johnson than David Beckham – or indeed like those of the Duke of Edinburgh.
The frustration that drives him is matched by true passion. He really does mind about things and cares passionately about his causes. He is not embarrassed to reveal his deeply held beliefs in the sacred and the spiritual, both influences he is so keen to preserve and foster in areas as diverse as the environment and climate change, farming, religion and the great literature of the Anglo-Saxon canon as well as our architectural heritage.
Where does this great heart come from? It is not a characteristic that bubbles up often in the House of Windsor gene pool, which more commonly produces stiff upper lips developed alongside a strong sense of duty and a deep and enduring horror of revealed feelings. The Prince himself had difficulties in that department in his relationship with Diana, Princess of Wales.
How could a man with a heart say 'Whatever love is' when asked about his feelings for his future wife? How could a man with feelings have allowed his marriage to disintegrate in such a disastrously messy and Wagnerian fashion? Maybe his feelings were not then engaged or matured. But they most certainly are with Camilla. This relationship is definitely a Good Thing in his life.
Recently, while researching an article, I was hanging around Clarence House with Camilla, and the Prince came in to say a lingering goodbye to her before leaving to take a train. Their chemistry is good: they both light up in each other's presence and they evidently share a common language – there was even a bit of PDA (public display of affection), which really took me by surprise. His Duchess gives him a stability and purpose and a cosy domestic life (a cosiness at the most opulent level, which most of us would describe as unbridled luxury).
Although Camilla seems to have picked up some of his petulance – she makes her wishes known about such things as extreme heat on royal tours and a dislike of having too many official engagements – her influence on him is hugely benign and gives him an intimacy that was sorely lacking before. She is not manipulative or particularly complex; they share the same sense of humour and, one would hope, the same bed.
As a man, the Prince is as complex as the rest of us: a soup of contradictions, of good and bad. He is grouchy, but he can be rockingly funny (think the Goons, who are right up there almost level with his grandmother as a seminal influence). He is fabulously grand but also self-deprecating, and, most importantly, his compassion makes him very good with people. I have seen him work a room and it is wondrous to behold – everyone goes away feeling very loved up and he too appears to get something out of it.
As a father, he has done a good job. While he himself fairly bursts out of his own austere, undermining and wildly old-fashioned upbringing, his sons seem at ease in their skins as young Royals (indeed there are those who think that they could do with a dose of humility). But their mostly single father has done well to raise them with their psyches seemingly undamaged by events, if without their privacy intact.
One recognises in them already some of the frustration felt by their father – with, as yet, less cause. There was never any nonsense about sending them to Gordonstoun – as is the peculiar habit with so many families where the father was unhappy at the same school. But those boys strike me from afar as pretty conventional: they may let their hair down in Boujis but their friends come from the same top-of-the-milk tribe of hunting, shooting, Army and country house, the same sort that their father hangs out with when off duty. This with the honourable exception of both Kate Middleton and Chelsy Davy, whose backgrounds are refreshingly different.
I strongly suspect that the often-made comment that must wound the Prince of Wales more than any other (and there are many – contradictions about carbon footprints and planes, accusations of grandeur never set against his compassion) is that he should be passed over for the succession. Some have suggested that the crown should pass directly to Prince William, an immature young man who as yet has not shown what he is made of. This simplistic idea utterly denigrates the years of largely self-invented service, well-considered trusts, scholarships, programmes and achievements as diverse as Poundbury, Duchy Originals and the thousands of young people for whom the Prince has secured a real leg-up in life. How can he not find this suggestion deeply hurtful?
But when he inevitably moves on to higher things (I trust no one is seriously countenancing the ridiculous idea of rewriting the constitution to pass over a man who has been preparing himself for this job all his life) I suspect he will leave a huge gap that we didn't even know existed until he filled it. His elder son will be stepping into some highly polished, handmade but very large shoes when his father finally embraces the job he has been formally preparing himself for since that rainy day at Caernarvon Castle 39 years ago.
* 'Saga' group specialises in information, help and activities for over 50 year olds.
Gordon Brown wants to end the centuries-old law that gives men priority over their older sisters in the Royal line of succession. The ban on members of the Royal Family marrying Roman Catholics - unless they give up their claim to the throne - would also be swept away.
The Prime Minister believes the 1701 Act of Settlement is an 'anomaly that has no place in the 21st century', Downing Street sources said last night. Buckingham Palace is said to be sympathetic to the idea and ready to 'open dialogue' on the issue.
Shake-up: The Bill would end the centuries-old law that gives men priority over their older sisters in the Royal line of succession - and it would allow Royals to marry Catholics Liberal Democrat Evan Harris told the Commons today: 'This is a welcome opportunity to debate what I think most people would consider to be outrageous discrimination in our constitution against Roman Catholics and equally unfair treatment of women. 'I come to this not from a religious perspective - but from the perspective of recognising whatever someone's religious views, or views of the Royal Family, the fundamental basis on which our constitution should be run is one that doesn't include unjustified discrimination.'
Mr Brown plans to raise it at the Commonwealth summit in November, since the law will have to be amended in every country where the Queen is head of state.
If the change was applied now, Princess Anne would rise from tenth in line to the throne to fourth, leapfrogging Princes Andrew and Edward and their children. There will be no change, however, to the requirement for the monarch to be a Protestant. Altering that would upset the position of the Church of England as the established church. The law requires that the monarch is also Supreme Governor of the church.
New order: Princess Anne would rise from 10th in line to the throne to 4th
A spokesman for the Church of England, however, said there was 'no way of knowing' where a discussion of the Act of Settlement could lead. In an historic Commons move, MPs will today discuss a Private Member's Bill proposing the changes. The Queen's consent had to be sought and granted for the debate to take place at all.
The Act of Settlement laid down that only the Protestant heirs of Sophia, granddaughter of James I, can become King or Queen. It also gives precedence to male heirs.
It was drawn up in an era of religious strife to ensure the Protestant succession, but has increasingly been condemned as discriminatory against both Catholics and women in the modern world.
Autumn Kelly, wife of the Queen's grandson Peter Phillips, gave up her Catholic faith so her husband could retain his place as 11th in line to the throne after their wedding in 2008. Other Royals, including Prince Michael of Kent, the Queen's first cousin, have given up their claim to the throne in order to marry Catholics.
State Opening of Parliament
The State Opening of Parliament marks the beginning of the parliamentary session. Its main purpose is for the monarch formally to open Parliament and in the Queen's Speech deliver an outline of the Government's proposed policies, legislation for the coming session and a review of the last session.
When is State Opening?
The State Opening usually takes place in November or December on the first day of the new parliamentary session.
There will also be a State Opening shortly after a general election. This depends on the timing of an election - the sessions before and after the election can be shorter or longer than a normal session.
The State Opening
State Opening is the main ceremonial event of the parliamentary calendar, attracting large crowds, both in person and watching on television and the internet. The Queen's procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster is escorted by the Household Cavalry.
The Queen arrives at the Sovereign's Entrance at about 11.15am, and proceeds to the Robing Room, where she puts on the Imperial State Crown and parliamentary robe. A procession then leads through the Royal Gallery to the Chamber of the House of Lords, where the Queen takes the Throne.
The official known as 'Black Rod' is sent to summon the Commons. In a symbol of the Commons' independence, the door to their chamber is slammed in his face and not opened until he has knocked on the door with his staff of office. The Members of the House of Commons follow Black Rod and the Commons Speaker to the Lords Chamber and stand behind the Bar of the House of Lords (at the opposite end of the Chamber from the Throne) to hear the Queen's Speech.
Queen's Speech
The Queen's Speech is delivered by the Queen from the Throne in the House of Lords, in the presence of Members of both Houses.
Although the Queen reads the Speech, the content is entirely drawn up by the Government and approved by the Cabinet. It contains an outline of the Government's policies and proposed new legislation for the new parliamentary session.
Debate on the Queen's Speech
Following the State Opening, a motion that the House sends a 'Humble Address' to the Queen thanking her for the Speech is introduced in both Houses. The Government's programme, as presented in the Queen's Speech, is then debated by both Houses for four or five days. The debate on the first day is a general one, with the following day's debates on particular subjects (such as health or foreign affairs). The Queen's Speech is voted on by the Commons, but no vote is taken in the Lords.
History of State Opening
Traditions surrounding the State Opening and delivery of a speech by the monarch can be traced back at least to the 16th century. The current ceremony dates from the opening of the rebuilt Palace of Westminster in 1852 after the fire of 1834.
The Speech from the Throne (or Throne Speech) is an event in certain monarchies in which the monarch (or a representative) reads a prepared speech to a complete session of parliament, outlining the government's agenda for the coming year. This event is often held annually, although in some places it may occur more or less frequently whenever a new session of parliament is opened. The speech from the throne is not written by the head of state who reads it, but rather by the government.
In most cases, the speech is read in a neutral voice, and although the Head of State may refer to "my government", it is clearly established that the Head of State is not responsible for determining the policies within the speech.
United Kingdom and Commonwealth
Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech, also known as the Gracious Address, or, less formally, as the Queen's Speech, is the speech from the Throne performed in the United Kingdom, before both Houses of Parliament. The speech itself is part of a lavish affair known as the State Opening of Parliament, with many formalities and traditions, including the Queen's wearing of her official state crown. In the speech, the Government's legislative programme is outlined for the new parliamentary session.
A Throne Speech is not typical in the devolved legislatures within the United Kingdom, the nearest equivalent being a statement of the legislative agenda of the executive branch usually given by a First Minister. However, the Queen often undertakes visits and speaks to the devolved bodies in a less official capacity. So far, she has been present and has given an address at all openings of the Scottish Parliament, usually speaking reflectively upon its accomplishments and wishing the institution well for its coming term rather than considering the plans of the Executive.
In the other Commonwealth countries (typically those which recognise the British head of state as their own), a similar speech to the British version is held in their respective legislatures. Generally, the Speech from the Throne will be read on Her Majesty's behalf by the relevant Governor-General, however if the Queen is present in the country she will often give the address in person. Queen Elizabeth II opened the Canadian Parliament with the Speech from the Throne in 1957, and again during her Silver Jubilee in 1977.
As in the UK, debate on the Speech from the Throne in Canada is preceded by a symbolic consideration of other business to demonstrate the independence of both houses. In the House of Commons, the bill considered is Bill C-1, An Act respecting the Administration of Oaths of Office; in the Senate, it is Bill S-1, An Act relating to Railways.
Debate on the Speech from the Throne then takes place; although the form is nominally a motion merely to formally thank the Governor General for presenting the speech,the vote on the motion is understood to express support for or opposition to the policies in the speech, and is a confidence motion.
Australia and Canada, federated countries, also hold a Throne Speech in the state or provincial jurisdictions, used to outline local legislative plans. Typically these are performed by the respective state Governors or provincial Lieutenant Governor, who represent the sovereign in that area. In Canada, the monarch does not give the Speech from the Throne in provincial legislatures, though Elizabeth II has addressed the Legislative Council of Quebec from its throne in 1964 and the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from the chamber's throne during her tour of that province in 2005.
Other countries
Other monarchies, such as the Netherlands (Day of the Princes) and Norway, have similar throne speech ceremonies. In Japan, the Emperor makes only a short greeting speech on the Diet opening ceremony; he does not refer to any government policies, instead allowing the Prime Minister to address the Diet on political matters.
Many republics also hold a yearly event in which the president gives a speech to a joint session of the legislature, such as the State of the Union Address given by the President of the United States. Where the President is the political head of the government the speech is more partisan in character; for instance, the President of the United States, besides being head of government and state, is generally considered to be the head of his party, and the State of the Union tends to reflect this.
The Princess Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950) is the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of her birth, she was third in the line of succession to the thrones of seven independent states; however, after additions to the Royal Family, and an evolution of the Commonwealth, Anne is currently tenth in line to the thrones of 16 countries. She is resident in and most directly involved with the United Kingdom, the oldest realm, while also carrying out duties in and on behalf of the other states of which her mother is sovereign.
One of the most popular and respected members of the Royal Family - House of Windsor, she carries out about 700 royal engagements and public appearances per year. The seventh holder of the title Princess Royal, Anne is known for her charitable work being the patron of over 200 organizations. The Princess Royal is also known for equestrian talents; she won two silver and one gold medal at the European Eventing Championships, and is the only member of the British Royal Family to have competed in the Olympic Games. She is presently married to Timothy Laurence, and has two children from her previous marriage to Mark Phillips.
A Girl Guides company, the 1st Buckingham Palace Company including the Holy Trinity Brompton Brownie pack, was reformed in May 1959 specifically so that, like her mother, Anne could socialize with girls her own age. The Princess Royal was active until 1963 when she went to boarding school.
As with royal children before her, a governess, Catherine Peebles, was appointed to look after the Princess and was responsible for her early education at Buckingham Palace. Peebles had also served as governess for Anne's older brother, Charles. When George VI died, and Anne's mother acceeded to the throne as Queen Elizabeth II, Anne was thereafter titled as Her Royal Highness The Princess Anne. Given her young age at the time, the Princess did not attend her mother's coronation. Anne remained under private tutelage until she was enrolled at Benenden School in 1963, graduating five years later with six O-Levels and two A-Levels.
Anne's first boyfriend was Andrew Parker Bowles, a former equerry to the Queen. Without her removal from the line of succession, it was not possible to marry him, because he was a Roman Catholic.
First marriage
On 14 November 1973, Princess Anne married Mark Phillips, then a Lieutenant in the 1st Queen's Dragoon Guards, at Westminster Abbey, in a ceremony that was televised around the world, with an estimated audience of 100 million. It was believed that the Queen had offered Phillips an earldom on his wedding day, as was customary for untitled men marrying into the Royal Family. However, the offer was turned down, perhaps at the behest of Anne, who wanted to shield her future children from the publicity that titles might bring. The couple did have two children, both of whom, like their mother, were born on the 15th day of a month. They thus became the first grandchildren of a Sovereign to carry no title, though they are not the first of a Princess to carry no title: the children of Princess Alexandra, the Queen's cousin, are also untitled.
Following the wedding, Anne and her husband lived at Gatcombe Park. By 1989, however, the Princess Royal and Mark Phillips announced their intention to separate, as the marriage had been under strain for a number of years. The couple divorced on 23 April 1992.
Kidnapping attempt
As Princess Anne and Mark Phillips were returning to Buckingham Palace on 20 March 1974, from a charity event on Pall Mall, their Austin Princess limousine was forced to stop by a Ford Escort, the driver of which – Ian Ball – jumped out and began firing a gun. James Beaton, the Princess' personal police officer, responded by exiting the limousine in order to shield the Princess and try to disarm Ball. Beaton's firearm, a Walther PPK, jammed, and he was shot by the assailant, as was Anne's chauffeur, Alex Callendar, when he tried to disarm Ball, Brian McConnell, a passerby who also intervened, and a man in a passing taxi. Ball approached the Austin Princess and told Anne of his kidnapping plan, which was to hold the Princess for ransom, the sum given varying sources as £2 million,or £3 million to the National Health Service.Ball then directed Anne to get out of the car, to which she replied: "Not bloody likely!", and briefly considered hitting Ball.Eventually, she dived out of the other side of the limousine, and another passing pedestrian punched Ball in the back of the head and then led Anne away from the scene.
At that point, Police Constable Michael Hills happened upon the situation; he too was shot by Ball, but not before he called for police backup. Detective Constable Peter Edmonds, who had been nearby, answered and gave chase, finally arresting Ball.
All of the victims were hospitalised, and recovered from their wounds. For his defence of Princess Anne, Beaton was awarded the George Cross, while Callender, McConnell, Russell, Hills, and Edmonds were each given the Queen's Gallantry Medal. Ball pleaded guilty to attempted murder and kidnapping, and was detained under the Mental Health Act, being sent to the Broadmoor Hospital, where he remains. He later placed strange advertisements in a magazine, directing readers to his Web site, which offers £1 million to anyone who can prove Ball's theory that the whole incident took place a year after, and formed a part of a long-standing and elaborate persecution of Ball by a policeman.
The incident was the closest in modern times that any individual has come to kidnapping a member of the Royal Family, and prompted higher security levels for the Royals. It also served as the focus of the 2006 Granada Television produced docu-drama, To Kidnap a Princess, as well as a real-life story line to the Tom Clancy novel "Patriot Games".
Second marriage
Anne married Timothy Laurence, then a commander in the Royal Navy, at Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral Castle, on 12 December 1992. The couple chose to marry in Scotland as the Church of England did not allow divorced persons to remarry in its churches, while the Church of Scotland did. In participating in this ceremony, Anne became the first Royal divorcée to remarry since Victoria, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, did so in 1905. Like Phillips before him, Laurence received no peerage, and the couple leased a flat in Dolphin Square, London. They later gave up this city home and resided between an apartment at Buckingham Palace and Gatcombe Park. Anne had no children with Laurence.
Personal interests
Pharology is a focus of interest for Princess Anne; she made it an ambition to personally see each of Scotland's 215 lighthouses, often touring them with the Northern Lighthouse Board, of which Anne is patron. It is thought the interest stems from Anne's visit, when she was five years old, to Tiumpan Head with her mother.Princess Anne is also patron of Sense (The National Deafblind and Rubella Association), having become a patron in 1986.
Sense is a national charity in the United Kingdom that supports and campaigns for children and adults who are deafblind. It provides specialist information, advice and services to deafblind people, their families, carers and the professionals who work with them. In addition, it supports people who have sensory impairments with additional disabilities. The Princess Royal takes a great interest in the work of this charity and hosts a number of events to raise money for its continued good work in the community and beyond.
Equestrianism - life with horse
Anne has always shown a keen interest in horses and equine pursuits. At the age of 21, the Princess won the individual title at the European Eventing Championship, and was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1971. For more than five years she also competed with the British eventing team, winning a silver medal in both individual and team disciplines in the 1975 European Eventing Champioship, riding the home-bred Doublet. The following year Anne participated in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal as a member of the British team, riding the Queen's horse, Goodwill. On 5 February 1987, she became the first Royal to appear as a contestant on a television quiz-show when she competed on the BBC panel game A Question of Sport.
As Princess Royal, Princess Anne undertakes a number of official duties on behalf of her mother, in her role as sovereign of any of the Commonwealth realms. Anne began to undertake official royal duties overseas upon leaving secondary school, and accompanied her parents on a state visit to Austria in the same year.She will sometimes stand in for the Queen at the funerals of foreign dignitaries (which the Queen customarily does not attend), and resides at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh each summer, hosting engagements there. The Princess also travels abroad on behalf of the United Kingdom up to three times a year; she was the first member of the Royal Family to make an official visit to the USSR when she went there as a guest of the government in 1990.The Princess' first tour of Australia was with her parents in 1970, since which she has returned on numerous occasions to undertake official engagements as a colonel-in-chief of an Australian regiment, or to attend memorials and services, such as the National Memorial Service for Bushfire Victims in Melbourne, Australia, on 22 February 2009.
The Princess Royal carries out the most engagements of any member of the Royal Family, and is involved with over 200 charities and organisations in an official capacity. She works extensively for Save the Children, of which she has been president since 1970, and she initiated The Princess Royal Trust for Carers in 1991; her work for the charity takes her all over the world, including many poverty stricken African nations. She is also the Royal Patron of WISE, an organisation that encourages young women to pursue careers in Science, Engineering and Construction.Her extensive work for St. John Ambulance as Commandant-in-Chief of St. John Ambulance Cadets has helped to develop many young people, as she annually attends the Grand Prior Award Reception. She is also a British representative in the International Olympic Committee as an administrator, and is a member of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.
Related information
State Opening: 2008-09 session
The State Opening for the 2008-09 session is on Wednesday 3 December 2008.
State Opening images
See a slideshow of images from previous State Openings.
What is the difference between a parliament and a session?
A parliament can last a maximum of five years and runs from one general election to the next.
A session of Parliament runs from the State Opening of Parliament, usually in November, through to the following November. However, if there is a general election, the session begins after the election and runs to the autumn of the following year, eg May 1997 through to November 1998.
Prince Charles, pictured recently meeting schoolchildren in London last year
Prince Charles has overtaken his sister Princess Anne to be crowned the hardest working member of the Royal family
The Queen and Prince Philip have notched up more than 770 official visits between them
The Queen's bedroom, with pillows trimmed with lace 
The Queen and Prince Philip prepare to board the Train.
Charles has monogrammed stationery on his desk 
Liquid asset: The Queen has a bath in her carriage. 
Charles pictured leaving the Royal Train in Scotland
Mobile home: Prince Charles's sitting room 
This handmade potpourri holder is a favourite of Charles 
Victoria, the first reigning monarch to travel by rail -s he paid for her own carriages 
Cherie Blair has used the Royal Train for a day trip
Prince Charles with Princes William & Harry in 2004. 
New order: Princess Anne would rise from 10th in line to the throne to 4th 
