Under the original plans drawn up in the event of the Queen passing away in Scotland, her body would have been carried by train from Edinburgh to London.
But this has been changed.
Now the coffin will be flown by RAF aircraft to RAF Northolt on Tuesday evening. It will then be taken to rest at Buckingham Palace’s Bow Room.
If the train plan had been carried out, it would have allowed many people to line the route along the East Coast Main Line to pay their last respects – including through York.
So why the change? According one of Britain’s foremost rail writers, Christian Wolmar, it was over safety concerns.
Writing in The Spectator, he says the change came in around the time of the Covid lockdown.
“The decision, taken jointly by the Palace and the police, was apparently the result of fears that the passing of the train down the East Coast line would create unprecedented policing problems.
“There were not only the usual worries about security, but also concern that rail enthusiasts would impeded the train’s progress by trespassing on the tracks in order to get the best photographs.”
Trespassing on the tracks by trainspotters keen to see Flying Scotsman partly prompted the rethink, he says.
And there were concerns over station platforms crammed with people waving flags that could get entangled on the overhead electrification wires.
“This, frankly, is stuff and nonsense, a mistaken overreach by the health and safety brigade,” writes Mr Wolmar.
“All these issues could have been dealt with by policing and adequate staffing of stations.
“These ‘final’ train journeys are part of a long tradition for major public figures such as King George V and Winston Churchill, and everything possible should have been done to maintain this rather special way of enabling people to make their farewells without travelling to London…
“The symbol of the late monarch being taken slowly across the whole of England and part of Scotland being viewed by respectful crowds – yes waving the occasional Union Jack – would have been a memorable sight, a real show of unity at a time when it is most needed.”
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