Queen Elizabeth II Always Had Strict Demands When She Traveled That Her Staffers Had to Meet
Queen Elizabeth II doesn’t fly anymore. However, she spent many years traveling for royal tours and visits all over the globe.
When she did so her staffers had to follow a set of rules to meet her demands from stocking the airplane pantry with certain items to making sure the monarch‘s “essentials” were always packed.
The items Queen Elizabeth always had to travel with
The Express noted that Peter Pigott wrote about what Queen Elizabeth had to travel with all the time in his 2005 book Royal Transport.
“The aircraft pantry is stocked with what the queen is used to eating at home,” he stated. “Comfort foods such as Dundee cake, shortbread, and Tiptree raspberry and Chivers strawberry jam are loaded on board.” Pigott added that there must be ample supplies of Earl Grey tea available when traveling too.
In the documentary Secrets Of The Royal Flight, royal correspondent Emily Andrews spoke about staffers fixing the sovereign tea on a royal flight.
“She loves afternoon tea, it’s her favorite meal and she only drinks Earl Grey. So if you were the chef on board the royal plane you would definitely make sure that you had an entire supply of earl grey,” Andrews stated. “Not just for the plane journey but wherever you were going on tour.”
Royal spokesperson Dickie Arbiter added that the queen will typically request to have Malvern Water with her wherever she goes as well. “She likes Malvern water, it’s refreshing and they usually take lots of it with her,” he said.
Other rules the monarch had on trips abroad
Pigott revealed some other things the monarch’s aides make sure to always pack. That includes “prescription and spare reading glasses are carried for both Her Majesty and Prince Philip. Barley sugar for Her Majesty to suck between speeches, a hot-water bottle, and special feather pillows are all a must.”
Pigott explained that one of the queen’s main rules when she’s away has to do with lobster and other shellfish as it’s something all chefs and servers are informed not to give her.
Pigott said the royal family matriarch refuses to eat those foods as “more precaution against an upset stomach than personal preference.”
There are also specific instructions not to ever serve her garlic. This is thought to be so the royals never have to worry about that giving them bad breath when they meet with diplomats, another head of state, or members of the public.
The queen used to pack something that Prince Charles does nowadays
On a few occasions, Queen Elizabeth had her staffers pack her own stash of alcohol to take with her when she traveled abroad.
Author Robert Hardman described the monarch bringing her own spirits along for a visit to Zambia in his 2018 book Queen of the World.
“The British High Commission was bombarded with questions… The master of the royal household wanted to know the precise dimensions of the plates that he hoped to use at his state banquet,” Hardman wrote (per the Express). “He would also require twelve dozen bottles of tonic water and six dozen of soda. The queen would bring her own spirits to go with it.”
According to reporter Gordon Rayner, who has covered nearly two dozen royal tours, when Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall take trips overseas it’s often with their own alcohol brought from home. Rayner said this is done for security reasons so they don’t risk anyone tampering with their beverages.
