Queen catches train back to London after winter break

FROM: The Telegraph

DATE: 07/02/2011

AUTHOR: n/a

The Queen was travelling back to London by train today after her mid-winter break in Norfolk.

She caught the scheduled 10.59 First Capital Connect service from King's Lynn to King's Cross as she made her way from the Royal Sandringham Estate, near King's Lynn, to Buckingham Palace.

First Capital Connect said the Queen, who is 84, travelled first class at the front of the four-carriage train and would have paid £47.20 - or £31.50 if she used a senior citizens' railcard.

A spokesman said the train left on time and arrived in London at 12.32 - a minute earlier than scheduled.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh spent Christmas and New Year on the royal estate at Sandringham, near King's Lynn.

One onlooker said the Queen arrived at the station with a royal protection officer and smiled at railway staff before boarding a first-class carriage.

On Sunday, around 200 people gathered to see her attend a church service on the 59th anniversary of her accession to the throne.

The Queen chatted to well-wishers and accepted flowers from children after the service at the St Peter and St Paul Church in West Newton, near Sandringham, with the Duke of Edinburgh.

George VI - the Queen's father - died in his sleep early on February 6 1952 while staying at Sandringham.

Royal gun salutes are usually fired around the country on Accession Day.

This year salutes were fired at noon on Monday because Accession Day fell on a Sunday.

Queen takes scheduled train to Sandringham

FROM: Daily Express

DATE: 18/12/2010

AUTHOR: Richard Palmer

WRAPPED up against the cold in a patterned red headscarf and overcoat, the Queen took a scheduled train to King's Lynn today to begin her Christmas break at Sandringham.

She and Prince Philip travelled on the 10.45 service from London King's Cross, sitting in a cordoned-off First Class compartment on £86 return tickets for the hour and 35-minute journey.

As Philip, 89, stretched out on one side, reading a newspaper, the Queen, 84, sat sharing a joke with a detective across the aisle, as other passengers joined the train at the London station.

To all intents and purposes, they looked like any other ordinary, slightly well-to-do couple travelling on the service.

But their arrival at King's Cross in a green Daimler with a police back-up Range Rover behind them 15 minutes before their scheduled departure caused mayhem for other passengers.

Police blocked access to three platforms at the busy station, meaning a couple of dozen angry passengers missed their trains while others were told they were too late to get onto the King's Lynn service, only for that decision to be rescinded a few moments later after some had left the station.

Businessman Mark Saywell was among those prevented from getting onto the platforms and missed the 10.36 to his hometown station, St Neots, Cambridgeshire. "I am a little bit disappointed, to say the least," he said sarcastically. "I had my Christmas party last night and I just want to get to bed. I've got another hour's wait now."

The journey marks the start of a seven-and-a-half week stay at Sandringham for the Queen, who always remains there until just after February 6, the day in 1952 that her father died and she acceded to the throne.

Prince William and Kate Middleton are expected to see her at the 20,000 acre estate this weekend. But the couple will not be there on Christmas Day, as William will be on duty at RAF Valley on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales, where he works as a search and rescue helicopter pilot.

In the coming days, most other senior members of the Royal Family will gather at Sandringham for the festive season.