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69-415: A royal train is a set of railway carriages dedicated for the use of the king or other members of a royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial train. The various government railway operators of Australia have operated a number of royal trains for members of the royal family on their numerous tours of

138-582: A standard gauge Imperial Train, used for traveling to Europe; this train set was purchased by the Russian Railway Ministry from Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée in the 1870s, and was deemed to be technologically obsolescent . Accordingly, new standard-gauge and broad-gauge trains for the use of the Imperial Court were constructed. The new broad-gauge Imperial Train for domestic travel became ready in time for

207-416: A bathtub that would not spill water no matter which direction the train was turning. The old "temporary" train in the meantime was transferred for use of Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna . The Russian Empire itself came to an end with Nicholas II 's abdication in 1917 while aboard his Imperial Train at Dno . The train itself was later moved to Alexandria Park in the 1930s and used as a museum exhibition. It

276-594: A combined dining and conference room. The carriage is pulled by ordinary railway locomotives and most often ordinary passenger carriages for press and other guests are added. The Romanian Royal Train was ordered by King Ferdinand I of Romania in 1926 to Ernesto Breda/Construzioni Meccaniche plants in Milan . It was delivered in 1928, one year after King Ferdinand's death. It was subsequently used by Queen Marie of Romania , King Michael I of Romania , Queen-Mother Elena of Romania and King Carol II of Romania . The train

345-457: A cordial reception for state guests, rather than transportation of the imperial family. The Moroccan royal train was composed of SPV-2000 railcars produced by Budd Company in the US and delivered in the early 1980s. The royal train consists of two self-propelled cars. After King Hassan II died, his successor, King Mohammed VI , stopped using the royal train. The Dutch State Railways (NS) uses

414-514: A dining car, a saloon car, a sleeping car for the King and another sleeping car for Queen consort Sophia . In 1891 the cars were converted to bogie-cars and put together two and two: The King's sleeping car was joined with the saloon car; the Queen's sleeping car was joined with the dining car. The audience car was not converted. The different cars were rebuilt, refurbished and replaced continuously over

483-437: A first class compartment in 1851 when the train derailed in the vicinity of Gütersloh . But soon most of these kings, great dukes and princes possessed their own private coaches or trains. In other cases the railway companies provided such coaches and rented them to royalty. Complementary to those private coaches and trains were private reception rooms in the station buildings and in some cases even private railway stations for

552-411: A new royal coach with a drawing room, sleeping compartments and kitchen. She used this coach for her state visit to Belgium, travelling the night of 27–28 May 2002 from Denmark to Brussels-South and returning from there to Denmark on the evening of 30 May 2002. The coach and the accompanying sleeping car for the staff were hooked to normal trains, except for the part from Aachen to Brussels, where it ran as

621-533: A result of the Second Schleswig War better known as the war of 1864, it was stranded on the Prussian side but returned to Denmark in 1865 in a barge. It was rebuilt several times first in 1883 where it was fitted with a vacuum brake, gaslighting and Mays heating system. It was rebuilt again in 1898 from a 3-axle to 2-axle car and classified Danish State Railways DSB SB 2, and 1903 reclassified for

690-552: A single royal carriage to transport the king and his family. It was ordered by the Dutch royal family in 1991, and construction was finished in 1993. It replaced a previous two-carriage royal train built in 1930, which is currently on display in the Dutch Railway Museum . In 2012 two more carriages were added to the royal train. These former first class passenger carriages were slightly modified and painted blue for use in

759-695: A special train to allow for the arrival on a reserved platform where the press were waiting. Emperor Menelik II was known to use a special first class saloon when travelling on the Franco-Ethiopian Railroad . In 1935 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia received two carriages from the Société Franco-Belge in Raismes . Another two from the Decauville works were commissioned in 1954. As of its last use in 1973, prior to

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828-615: A trip from Schaerbeek to Liège-Guillemins . In October 2019 the royal family used a converted 1st class train to visit Luxembourg . They departed from the Brussels-Luxembourg railway station , to not hinder the busy train network around Brussels. Royal trains have been employed to transport members of the Canadian royal family on numerous tours prior to the 1960s, after which the Canadian Royal Flight

897-512: Is a possibility of using a first-class SNCB I11 coach with seats partially removed and a set of armchairs put in the middle of the coach. This arrangement was used for the first time on 30 May 2002 during the state visit of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark , for a trip from Bruges to Brussels-South , and a second time during the state visit of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands on 22 June 2006 for

966-607: Is a train carriage used by the Norwegian royal family and maintained by the Norwegian Railway Museum . The current carriage was introduced in 1994 in connection with the Lillehammer Olympics and replaced a carriage from 1962. The current carriage contains a main sleeping compartment with dressing room and adjoining bathroom, two guest compartments, guest bathroom, kitchen, guard compartments and

1035-630: Is composed of one steam-engine locomotive (under restoration, for the moment) and five railway cars: the Dining Car, the King's Car, the Queen's Car, the Guests Car and the Royal House Personnel's Car. On 3 January 1948 King Michael I and his mother, Queen Elena, were forced into exile by the newly installed Communist authorities. After a thorough luggage search for values, the King left Romania (from Sinaia ) for Austria , in

1104-454: Is considered equivalent to, Latin rēx and its equivalents in the various European languages . The Germanic term is notably different from the word for "King" in other Indo-European languages ( *rēks "ruler"; Latin rēx , Sanskrit rājan and Irish rí ; however, see Gothic reiks and, e.g., modern German Reich and modern Dutch rijk ). The English word is of Germanic origin, and historically refers to Germanic kingship , in

1173-502: Is derived from the Common Germanic * kuningaz . The Common Germanic term was borrowed into Estonian and Finnish at an early time, surviving in these languages as kuningas . It is a derivation from the term *kunjom "kin" ( Old English cynn ) by the -inga- suffix. The literal meaning is that of a "scion of the [noble] kin", or perhaps "son or descendant of one of noble birth" ( OED ). The English term translates, and

1242-818: Is preserved at the Pokrovsk Station in Engels City and Volodymyr Shcherbytsky 's car in Kyiv .) Leaders of North Korea , starting from Kim Il-Sung , had their own fleet of private trains . In Yugoslavia , Josip Broz Tito had the Blue Train . In the Philippines , Ferdinand Marcos had the Presidential Carriage (PC) 286. This unit was decommissioned in 1986, but in 2020 this carriage was planned for refurbishment. King King

1311-496: Is reserved solely for the transport of the Three Sacred Treasures as they must accompany the emperor. Under Emperor Akihito , imperial trains were used less and less: the emperor generally travelled by air, or regular scheduled trains with a reserved carriage. In this case, bulletproof carriages were still be operated where available. Imperial trains were still operated occasionally, but they mainly functioned as

1380-532: Is still under renovation and cannot be used). On 15 October 2012, ownership of the train line reverted from the state to the ownership of King Michael I . Starting in 2012, the Royal Train is annually used by the Romanian royal family ( Crown Princess Margareta , the eldest daughter and heir of King Michael) for public events, mainly trips with political and symbolic significance as well as travelling between

1449-441: Is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds the powers of government without control, or the entire sovereignty over a nation ; he is a limited monarch if his power is restrained by fixed laws; and he is an absolute, when he holds the whole legislative , judicial , and executive power , or when the legislative or judicial powers, or both, are vested in other people by

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1518-618: The German occupation of Bucharest. The trips are met with great political and public enthusiasm as well as anticipation. King Michael I of Romania was given a state funeral on 16 December 2017. At the conclusion of the ceremonies in Bucharest, the coffin was taken from Băneasa Railway Station to Curtea de Argeş Railway Station on board the Royal Train for burial in Curtea de Argeş. The late Romanov Tsars traveled by rail extensively over

1587-604: The King of Bahrain and the King of Eswatini . Aalholm The castle was initially the seat of the king's vassal or lensmand , and thus the centre of local government. It is not known when the castle was founded, but for historical reasons, it was probably around 1200. During this period, a number of royal castles were built across the country to strengthen the king's power in the regions and guard against attack. They include Koldinghus , Riberhus , Copenhagen Castle , Næsbyhoved Castle near Odense, Sønderborg and Nordborg on

1656-796: The Late Middle Ages there were a number of large and powerful kingdoms in Europe, which would develop into the great powers of Europe in the Early Modern period . By the end of the Middle Ages, the kings of these kingdoms would start to place arches with an orb and cross on top as an Imperial crown , which only the Holy Roman Emperor had had before. This symbolized them holding the imperium and being emperors in their own realm not subject even theoretically anymore to

1725-555: The Nuremberg Transport Museum , the king's personal coach as well as a terrace-coach, by half open-air. The Weimar Republic inherited about 100 of these royal cars, a number far larger than useful for the president and government. So no new cars were built but some of the old ones used. Others were used in luxury trains or in ordinary services, especially dining cars, or as sleepers. Many of them were also converted to departmental vehicles . In Japan , trains for

1794-706: The Shinkansen or private railways, other trainsets may be used for Omeshi Ressha service, such as the Kintetsu 50000 series EMU for visits to Ise Grand Shrine . These trainsets are otherwise operated regularly for passenger service, but as is the case with the Kintetsu 50000 or the N700 Series Shinkansen , may have carriages retrofitted with bulletproof windows to accommodate the emperor. Additionally, when travelling to Ise, an additional carriage

1863-678: The coronation of Nicholas II in 1896. Initially the train consisted of 7 cars, purpose-built at the Aleksandrovsky Railway Factory in St Petersburg. Later, the size of the train was increased to 10 cars. When the Royal family moved from one palace to another, as much as twenty cars were required just for their luggage. One of the best known aspects of the refurbished train was the Tsar's personal bathroom which boasted

1932-439: The emperor , the empress , or the empress dowager are called Omeshi Ressha ( お召し列車 ) , literally meaning "trains that they use", albeit using an extremely polite word for "use". Trains for the other members of the imperial family are called Gojōyō Ressha ( 御乗用列車 ) , meaning "trains to ride" in slightly more common language. However, both Omeshi Ressha and Gojōyō Ressha refer to a non-scheduled service solely operated for

2001-573: The Balkan countries. For example, since 2013, the train has made regular trips. The first one was on 1 December (celebration of National Union of Romania) one the route Sinaia , Bușteni , Predeal , Brașov , Codlea , Făgăraş , Avrig and Sibiu and it was met with huge public appreciation and participation at stops; another trip was in remembrance of the royal family, Parliament and Government retreat from Bucharest to Iași in World War I , during

2070-482: The Emperor's overthrow in a coup d'etat the following year , the imperial train consisted of two locomotives, a baggage car with a diesel generator, four imperial carriages for the emperor and his family (lounge, sleeping compartments, offices, kitchen and restaurant), two 1st class salon-sleeper cars for guests of the royal family and government officials, and two 2nd passenger cars. Today the cars are held in storage in

2139-468: The Holy Roman Emperor. Philosophers Works Currently (as of 2023 ), seventeen kings are recognized as the heads of state of sovereign states (i.e. English king is used as official translation of the respective native titles held by the monarchs). Most of these are heads of state of constitutional monarchies ; kings ruling over absolute monarchies are the King of Saudi Arabia ,

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2208-437: The Royal Train, with tightly closed windows and under strict supervision. The royal family was in exile until 1997, when the post-1989 government of Victor Ciorbea revoked their loss of citizenship. During the communist era, the train was used occasionally by the communist rulers of Romania, especially by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej . In recent years, the Royal Train was gradually renovated by an NGO (the old steam locomotive

2277-602: The White Train used exclusively by the governor-general and later the president of South Africa. Part of the Royal Train is preserved in the Outeniqua Transport Museum, George, South Africa, with a SAR Class "GL" 2351 "Princess Alice" Garrett steam locomotive that actually was used to haul the White Train in 1947. Sweden 's first royal train was put into service in 1874 for the use of King Oscar II . It consisted of five cars: an audience (meeting) car,

2346-460: The benefits of the castles, providing them with a pension. After Frederik III's coup establishing an autocratic regime in Denmark, the feudal approach was abolished. Aalholm became an amt or county with an administration consisting of civil servants. These officers did not necessarily live at Aalholm. Some lived in their own homes, some in nearby Nykøbing . In the 65 years from 1660 to 1725 when

2415-411: The castle's exterior. In the 1970s, parts of the castle were opened to the public as a museum, while the former owner established a vintage car museum on Stubberup Farm about one kilometer to the west of the castle. In connection with the sale of the castle and estate in 1995, all the furnishings were auctioned off while the new owner took over the automobile museum. The museum was closed in 2008 owing to

2484-405: The channel to be followed. Not far to the north and west, there was fertile land where produce could be grown for the castle, with a surplus for the vassal and the king. Moreover, Nysted Nor was the only suitable site for a building of the kind between Nakskov in the south of Lolland and Stubbekøbing in the northeast of Falster. The importance of the area at the time can also be appreciated from

2553-698: The country . The imperial and royal court used the k.u.k. Hofsalonzug (Imperial and Royal Court Saloon Train). Various versions existed under the rule of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria . Many of the cars were built by Ringhoffer in Bohemia. The cars were operated and maintained by the Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways . Two cars have survived, one is the dining car kept at the Technical Museum in Prague, and

2622-420: The dam was built there is now a road, No. 283 from Nysted to Sakskøbing and Rodby . It was built over rather swampy ground but it is unclear exactly when. Although it appears on a map from 1807, it is probably older. In connection with the change of ownership in 1889, the dam south of the castle was closed to the public and a new smaller dam was built on the north side in order to provide additional land. Part of

2691-582: The exclusive use of these privileged few. A well-preserved example is Potsdam Park Sanssouci railway station , a railway station for the use of Emperor Wilhelm II near his summer palace, the New Palace in Potsdam . King Frederick William IV of Prussia purchased a set of royal coaches in 1857. They ran on two and three axles and were painted in a chestnut brown. None of these have survived. After 30 years of use they became technically outdated, so in 1889

2760-583: The expanse of their empire . The catastrophic derailment of the Russian Royal Train on 17 October 1888 killed 21 people, however Alexander III , along with his wife and children, survived. After this accident, a so-called Temporary Imperial Train was composed of several surviving cars of the wrecked train, with the addition of several converted passenger cars of the Nikolayevskaya Railway . The emperor also had at his disposal

2829-621: The fact that the Franciscan monastery in Nysted, built in 1286, was the only one on the islands, especially as the Franciscans always settled in thriving, populated areas where they could rely on the support of the inhabitants. However, it is impossible to trace the early history of the castle as there are no written sources and any archaeological evidence is hidden beneath today's building. The castle has been built and rebuilt even since it

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2898-401: The following are preserved: the drawing room coach (with private rest compartment for the king), the dining coach (with big and private dining compartment and kitchen) and the sleeping coach for the king and queen (with small drawing room, sleeping compartments, bathing compartments with bathtub and compartments for the staff). For rail transport during visits of heads of state to Belgium, there

2967-519: The imperial coaches were painted green. The private car of the emperor is on display in the German Museum of Technology , Berlin , the private car of the empress in the museum of former Linke-Hofmann -Busch GmbH (today: Alstom Transport Deutschland GmbH) who built the coach. The kings of Saxony , Wurttemberg and Bavaria possessed their own trains. Two royal coaches of a most splendid design used by King Ludwig II of Bavaria are preserved in

3036-482: The imperial family. Dedicated imperial carriages were owned by Japanese National Railways (JNR), and these came under the control of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) following privatization. The dedicated locomotive-hauled set was retired in the 2000s and replaced by the specially built E655 series EMU, which can also be used as a VIP charter trainset. When the emperor must travel on

3105-702: The intermediate positions of counts (or earls ) and dukes . The core of European feudal manorialism in the High Middle Ages were the territories of the former Carolingian Empire , i.e. the kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire (centered on the nominal kingdoms of Germany and Italy ). In the course of the European Middle Ages, the European kingdoms underwent a general trend of centralisation of power, so that by

3174-434: The island of Als , Tårnborg near Korsør, Nyborg , Gurre Castle and Søborg in the north of Zealand, Ravnsborg in northern Lolland and many more. Aalholm was located on a very favorable site, standing on a little island in the inlet known as Nysted Nor. Completely surrounded by water, it was protected from the open sea although ships of all kinds could sail right up to the island, provided they had crews conversant with

3243-487: The king. Kings are hereditary sovereigns when they hold the powers of government by right of birth or inheritance, and elective when raised to the throne by choice. The term king may also refer to a king consort , a title that is sometimes given to the husband of a queen regnant , but the title of prince consort is more common. The English term king is derived from the Anglo-Saxon cyning , which in turn

3312-611: The kingdom of the Franks developed into the Carolingian Empire by the 8th century, and the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England were unified into the kingdom of England by the 10th century. With the breakup of the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century, the system of feudalism places kings at the head of a pyramid of relationships between liege lords and vassals, dependent on the regional rule of barons , and

3381-413: The lake to the north of the new dam was drained and used for cattle. After the pumps were turned off in 2008, the area has once again become a shallow lake. The king's castles which were spread across the country were run by vassals who were responsible for defending the area and either had to provide the king with produce or lend him money in return for the revenues they received. In many cases, however,

3450-893: The last time as DSB S 2 and used as an inspection car until 1934 when it was withdrawn from service. In 1935 its wooden coach body was sold to greengrocer Møller and used as a summer house in Hurup Thy until 1983 when it donated to the DJK (Dansk Jernbane-Kub) Danish railway club. In 1985 it was given to the Aalholm collection at Aalholm Castle, and in 2011 it came to the Danish Railway Museum in Odense where it sits on display as an unrestored coach body to show what several other coaches looked like before restoration. For her 60th birthday in 2000, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark received

3519-500: The mountains in northern Sweden, as a through coach connected to regular trains. In the year 2001 the last royal car was taken out of regular service and is now on display at the Swedish Railway Museum, however it has been put back into service for special occasions since; the museum is connected by rail to the regular network and some of the cars on display can rather easily be brought back to service. Queen Victoria

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3588-433: The new emperor, Wilhelm II , who was always very interested in engineering and technological developments started to order new coaches. Until the end of his reign in 1918 there were about 30 coaches. These ran on bogies with either two or three axles and were painted in bright blue and ecru which contrasted significantly with ordinary coaches of the day which usually were painted green, grey or brown; only during World War I

3657-453: The obscure Railway Museum the yards of Legehar train station , but as of the early 2000s were kept in good condition and are occasionally open for public viewing. Germany consisted of more than 30 states – most of them monarchies – when railways came into existence. In the beginning, royalty used first class coaches or first class compartments within public coaches and trains. So Prince Frederick of Prussia (later German Emperor) travelled in

3726-558: The ordering of eight ivory-painted air-conditioned saloons from Britain , three of which were built to Blue Train sleeping car standards, while the remaining five were special saloons for use by the royal family and Field Marshal Jan Smuts , the South African prime minister. After the tour the Blue Train type saloons were painted in matching livery to serve on the Blue Train, while the remaining special saloons became part of

3795-555: The other is the car of Empress Elisabeth of Austria , which is kept at the Technical Museum in Vienna. Some of the historic royal coaches are still preserved, two of which are on display at the Train World museum at Schaerbeek . From the royal coaches that served for King Leopold II and King Albert I are preserved the three most important royal coaches. From the royal coaches that served for King Leopold III and King Baudouin

3864-405: The poor state of the buildings. The cars were sold by RM Auctions on August 12, 2012, realizing sales of 10.2 million Euros. Early on, possibly from the outset, there was an access causeway from Søstræde and Slotsgade in Nysted. It traced an S-shaped course to the south of the castle, possibly all the way to the opposite bank where the castle's farm buildings once stood. Beside the south wing, there

3933-489: The pre-Christian period a type of tribal kingship . The monarchies of Europe in the Christian Middle Ages derived their claim from Christianisation and the divine right of kings , partly influenced by the notion of sacral kingship inherited from Germanic antiquity . The Early Middle Ages begin with a fragmentation of the former Western Roman Empire into barbarian kingdoms . In Western Europe,

4002-554: The royal carriage itself, and, since 2012, the two slightly modified first class passenger carriages for staff, press and other guests. Before 2012, instead of the two extra carriages, two ordinary first class passenger carriages were added. Usually those carriages were the most luxurious type NS had available. The Royal Trains were special train carriages used by the New Zealand Railways during royal visits to New Zealand between 1901 and 1954. The Norwegian Royal Train

4071-597: The royal family has travelled on ordinary service trains more frequently in recent years to minimise costs. Rail transport, in the form of special presidential trains , have been widely used by the leaders of countries that are/were not monarchies, while private rail cars , whether attached to regular passenger trains or not, were once used by the very rich in many countries. Presidents of the United States often traveled in presidential railcars and Soviet leaders had special trains. (One of Leonid Brezhnev 's rail cars

4140-470: The royal family or other dignitaries. In 1948, upon the formation of British Railways , the individual regions continued to maintain their own royal train carriages. A single "Royal Train" was only formed in 1977 as a response to the demands of the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II . This train has been maintained since the privatisation of British Rail by DB Cargo UK at Wolverton Works , although

4209-480: The royal train. However, they are not available for international use, unlike the royal carriage itself, which is an International Coach Regulations carriage allowed in 16 different countries. When the king travels by train, a single (diesel) locomotive travels ahead to explore the tracks. The train itself is composed of two ordinary locomotives of the Dutch State Railways (head and tail of the train),

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4278-406: The towers no roofs. In the 18th century, parts of the south wing were demolished and the east wing was fully renovated. In 1889, a further section of the south wing was pulled down and two new lateral wings were added on the south side of the north wing. As a result, the once rectangular structure now took on a shape resembling a pair of spectacles. Since then there have been no significant changes to

4347-481: The vassals appointed a representative to run the castle and its district as they often owned farms elsewhere in the country and were also required to fight in the king's wars. We know a number of Aalholm's vassals, many of them members of the Danish nobility. Later, some of them stemmed from Mecklenburg or Holstein , simply acting in as officials. In certain periods, the kings would allow their widowed mothers to enjoy

4416-569: The years, and some of them are now on display at the Swedish Railway Museum in Gävle . The last royal train car to be built was in 1931 for King Gustav V . It was used on the King's many trips from Sweden to Nice in southern France as a through coach connected to regular trains. The King's royal car remained in use for several of his successors and was also used by the present King Carl XVI Gustaf and his family on their trips to

4485-482: Was a bridge to the dam. As time went by, groundfilling works were undertaken and in 1796 a small garden was added on the west side of the castle. In 1814 and during the 1830s, a large park-like facility was built in Hestehave Woods southwest of the farm. At some point, maybe in the 1890s, a walled garden with greenhouses and a water tower was added west of the castle. To the north of the lake which formed after

4554-428: Was founded. The oldest part of the existing building is the north wing, thought to date from the 14th and 15th centuries. Thereafter, there is plenty of documentation on restoration and refurbishment, sometimes also revealing the poor state of the building. For example, in the 1550s, bricks from the Franciscan monastery were used to repair the castle while after the Swedish Wars of 1657-1660, the building had no windows and

4623-447: Was later captured by the Nazis, who stripped it of much of its piping, plumbing and wiring and looted any items of value during the Second World War. In 1954, the Politburo ordered all remnants of the Imperial Train to be dismantled. From 5 February to 10 April 1934, Prince George, Duke of Kent , toured South Africa in a special train known as The White Train. The three-month-long British royal family tour of South Africa in 1947 saw

4692-401: Was predominantly used. Denmark ’s oldest royal coach dates back to 1854 and known as JFJ S (I) (Jysk-Fynske Jernbaner) the S stands for Salonvogn which is the Danish classification for all the royal cars up to the modern day. It was gifted to King Frederik VII by Peto, Brassey & Betts to the inauguration of the railway between Flensborg-Tønning. (Now in German Southern Schleswig ) and as

4761-420: Was the first British monarch to travel by train, on 13 June 1842, when she travelled on the Great Western Railway (GWR), which ran the line between London Paddington and Windsor (for Windsor Castle ). She famously quoted, when the train was recording 30 mph (48 km/h), "This is too fast for a person to travel". Soon, other major British railway companies had their own carriage(s) dedicated for use by

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