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Queen Elizabeth could be found travelling on private jets during state visits for many years. Now she is in her nineties she no longer undertakes state visits – instead, these are carried out by her children and grandchildren. The Queen does not travel on scheduled flights but the rest of the royal family do if possible. The private charters the family fly in vary depending on the distance and the size of the party. However, they can only fly privately on certain occasions. The private flight is afforded to the Royals when they are working hard, however, it is not used for every single business trip. This is because the Queen sets a travel budget for her family, and they have been instructed not to break the bank when it comes to spending.
Taxpayer money funds these flights, meaning that the Royals cannot be seen to be spending money on luxury flights irresponsibly. Even the Queen herself doesn’t purely travel private and she has been spotted on a commercial airline before. The monarch has travelled with British Airways during her reign, as have other members of her family. The Queen first flew on a British Airways plane in 1952, when she found out about her father’s death. She then proceeded to use the British airline for another fifty years. These days, the Queen tends to travel by Royal train.
Of course, at 92, 93 next birthday, she is not doing more long-haul flights. She did fly in 2015 to Germany by private jet. Whenever she does travel to foreign countries, however, the Queen does not take a passport. In fact, she is the only person in the whole of the UK who doesn’t need a passport to travel. This is because all British passports are issued in the name of Her Majesty. The first page of all British passports reads: “Her Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State requests and requires in the name of Her Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.”Although the monarch does not need a passport she still has to complete an identity check. Elizabeth needs to give her full name, age, address, place of birth and nationality to immigration officials.
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