The royal family is a well-traveled bunch. In a typical year, approximately 3500 royal engagements are attended around the world.
However, great travel privileges come with great responsibilities, as well as some delightfully strange rules.
The royal travel secrets and responsibilities that the royals must follow when leaving the country are listed below.
1.The Queen is without a passport.
The only British national who does not require a passport to travel is Her Majesty the Queen. It is considered redundant because the passports are issued in her name.
“As a British passport is issued in Her Majesty’s name, it is unnecessary for The Queen to possess one,” the royal household’s website clarifies.
The rest of the royal family is required to have a passport, though this will change once Prince Charles is crowned king.
When she leaves or enters the country, Elizabeth II must still go through identity checks and provide proof of address.
2.Prince William and Prince Charles are unable to fly together.
Some royals are unable to travel as a group. In the event of an accident, the royal heirs to the throne cannot be on the same plane.
Prince William and Charles, as first and third in line to the throne, are unable to fly together. Similarly, the Queen and Charles are unable to travel together. To ensure that the royal lineage is not lost in the event of an air accident, Prince William and his son George are not allowed to fly together.
This rule isn’t as strict as some others. The Queen granted special permission for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, to fly to Australia with their nine-month-old son, Prince George, in 2014.
3.Royals always have a black outfit packed
Royals always wear black formal wear wherever they go.
This morbid rule is in place to ensure that they are always prepared with appropriate mourning attire in the event that another member of the family passes away while they are away.
While staying at the Treetops hotel in Kenya, the Queen was shocked to learn that her father, King George VI, had died.
4.Royals carry an emergency blood supply
The royals’ disaster preparedness follows them wherever they go. In some cases, this entails bringing their own blood supply with them while traveling.
Gordon Rayner, the Telegraph’s chief reporter and former royal correspondent, revealed that the royal medical emergency bag contains far more than your average first aid kit.
Just in case, he described it as “a bulky medical bag containing a mobile defibrillator and all manner of emergency medicine.”
These blood bags must be blue, right?
