Britain’s royals give up their luxury train in the name of fiscal restraint

Despite receiving a near-record boost in funding, the royal family decides it is the end of the line for its locomotive service

King Charles arrives on the Royal Train, pulled by a steam locomotive at Cardiff Central Rail Station. Picture: Rebecca Naden - WPA Pool / Getty Images

In an era of hard choices for economies around the world, Britain’s royal family is also playing its part, waving farewell to perhaps its most extravagant mode of transport.

The royal train, the House of Windsor’s personalised service that chugs the royals across the country to engagements, will be axed in 2027 after a review concluded that it no longer offered value for money and that two new helicopters would be “a reliable alternative.”

The locomotive service, which features bedroom compartments, a dining room and a study, has long been a lightning rod for antimonarchy campaigners who pointed to its cost as emblematic of royal excess. Last year, King Charles undertook a 190-mile rail trip from England’s East Midlands to the capital, which was billed at nearly $94,000.

James Chalmers, who manages the royal finances as keeper of the privy purse, said the decision to halt the personal train would mean “the fondest of farewells.”

“In moving forwards we must not be bound by the past,” he added.

A royal-train carriage that was used by King Edward VII. Photo: SSPL/Getty Images

This kind of public fiscal self-flagellation is nothing new to the British monarchy, which is often at pains to point out its value to UK taxpayers who bankroll the franchise. The late Queen Elizabeth II gave up the royal yacht in the 1990s in the name of financial prudence — its farewell ceremony was one of the few occasions where she was seen to shed a tear in public.

But this latest decision is all the more surprising given that the royal family’s finances are arguably stronger than they have ever been in modern times.

The royal family is funded by a chunk of the profits from a huge tract of land, called the Crown Estate, managed by the UK Parliament. The Crown Estate — owned by generations of Charles’s regal ancestors — owns more than 190,000 acres across Britain, an area roughly the size of New York City that includes parts of the UK’s coastal shelf.

In recent years, as asset prices have soared, this has turned into a gold mine. The seabed is now being leased for wind turbines, providing bumper revenue. This year the total payout to the monarchy, known as the Sovereign Grant, will increase to £132.1 million, equivalent to about $276 million, from £86.3 million last year. The extra windfall will fund the continuing renovation of Buckingham Place, the royal family said. It is also funding other extra outlays, including increasing staff numbers and average pay bump of 6.4 per cent for courtiers.

So while Britain’s government considers tax rises and spending cuts to plug a fast-growing deficit, the royal family is in strong financial standing. Accounting for inflation, funding for the monarchy has roughly tripled since 2012, when it stood at around £30 million a year ($62.66m)

The royal family says the big payout is justified as most of it goes toward refurbishing Buckingham Palace, which is undergoing extensive rewiring and replumbing. It says excluding this refurbishment cost, the handout to the monarchy has been roughly flat for the past five years.

Queen Elizabeth II and the and Prince Philip go aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia. Picture: PA Images via Getty Images

The royal train will stop rolling for the first time since Queen Victoria first commissioned coaches to be pulled by a locomotive in the 1860s. The train’s importance in an age of air travel has repeatedly come into question. However, Queen Elizabeth was said to be fond of the train, which her father used extensively to tour the nation during World War II, when it carried its own bath.

Following Queen Elizabeth’s death in 2022, there were plans for the royal train to carry her coffin down the length of the country from Scotland, where she died, to London. The idea was that mourners could gather at each railway station to bid their farewells. Ultimately this plan was scrapped and her coffin was transported on a plane.

Once the train is mothballed, Charles, who has long advocated protecting the environment, will instead use two newly leased helicopters that run on sustainable aviation fuel. The train will be taken on one more tour of Britain before it is retired and can be placed on display.

Wall Street Journal