Anne keeps it in the family as she unveils restored rail coach in York

It was the carriage on which her great great great grandmother had been able to take tea and, in an onboard facility denied to regular passengers, avail herself of the commode.
The Princess Royal visting The National Railway Museum, York, to see the completed conservation work on Queen Victoria's CarriageThe Princess Royal visting The National Railway Museum, York, to see the completed conservation work on Queen Victoria's Carriage
The Princess Royal visting The National Railway Museum, York, to see the completed conservation work on Queen Victoria's Carriage

Yesterday, a century and a half after it was originally commissioned for a mere £1,800, the Princess Royal declared its restoration complete.

The Royal saloon carriage, built in 1869 by the London and North Western Railway and among the first to have electric lights, was used by Queen Victoria to travel to Balmoral, and was one of several built by rival train companies to compete for her patronage.

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It has been restored at the National Railway Museum in York, where Anne took a guided tour yesterday. The director, Judith McNicol, said: “Everything has been completed by hand using a mix of traditional and modern skills and materials, and the finished result is a real achievement which I’m sure Queen Victoria herself would have approved of.”

Anne was also shown a Royal carriage in which she travelled as a child. It had been used by her grandmother, the Queen Mother.

Meanwhile, crowds turned out to see the Prince of Wales as he visited a village hall and primary school in the Oxfordshire village of Bletchingdon, built on land owned by his estate, the Duchy of Cornwall. It was the first time he had seen the development, which opened in 2015 and will include 56 houses and five flats.

Later, he visited a school affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy, and told children he hoped they would make a “real difference to the future of this country”.

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Charles also suggested the pupils at Kensington Aldridge Academy, would be the next generation of cyber experts.

“We are going to rely on so many of you, and many of you I’m sure are going to be frighteningly clever computer engineers,” he said in an impromptu speech.