Right royal welcome at Hitchin station

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Staff at Hitchin station welcomed royalty last week when the Queen arrived as part of her Diamond Jubilee tour.

More than 600 people lined up outside the station on June 14 armed with Union flags to welcome the Queen, who is celebrating 60 years on the throne this year.

Her Majesty arrived on the Royal Train shortly after 10.30am – 170 years and one day after the train’s first-ever journey.

She was greeted by the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire who presented her husband and First Capital Connect’s (FCC) customer services director, Keith Jipps.

Keith said: “She was very warm and personable and it was an absolute pleasure to meet her. I said, ‘Good morning Your Majesty,’ and she asked me, ‘This line is very busy,’ and I said, ‘Yes, Hitchin is one of our busiest stations’.”

Her Majesty waved to a group of around 100 schoolchildren from Hitchin’s Purnell Primary School and then passed down a line of dignitaries before accepting posies from other schoolchildren.

FCC group station manager Karen Gregson and station manager Andy Hart made preparations for the visit alongside the British Transport Police.

Karen said: “We pulled out all the stops, working closely with the British Transport Police, Lord Lieutenant’s office, Palace and local authorities to make the Queen’s visit to Hitchin station a success and we were thrilled with how it went. The sun shone and The Queen was fabulous. We are so proud to have been involved in our small way in her special Jubilee tour.”

1 COMMENT

  1. There were of course many royal trains after the first one 170 years ago. All the larger companies had a dedicated royal train. Nationalisation led to the notion of THE royal train.

    The visit to Hitchen was certainly not on an extremely old train, just a quite old one.

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