Low cost royalty

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Queen Sofia of Spain has given the British royals a lesson in costcutting - by taking a £13 budget airline flight to London

The 70-year-old monarch flew with low-cost airline Ryanair from Spain to Stansted on Sunday to visit her brother, ex-King Constantine of Greece, who is recovering from heart surgery in a London hospital.

A Spanish royal source said it was 'common practice' for members of the House of Bourbon to fly on scheduled flights and added: 'King Juan Carlos is the only member of the royal family who always travels on military flights.

'Whenever possible the royals use Spanish airlines, but in this case Ryanair was the best option for getting from Santander to London. It may well be first time the royals have used Ryanair.'

Last year, the British Royal Family spent £6.2million of taxpayers' money on travel for official duties. None, with the exception of one or two of the younger members, has ever taken a budget flight.

The source could not say whether the queen had had to pay any of the extra charges Ryanair imposes for having bags other than hand luggage, or for checking in at the airport rather than online.

Queen Sofia, whose husband, King Juan Carlos, is our Queen's third cousin, originally flew to London to be with her brother, the former King Constantine II of Greece, last Thursday.

She had to return to Spain to attend the country's Armed Forces Day on Sunday but was so *keen to be with her brother again that she flew back to London from Santander on Ryanair on Sunday evening.

Her flight left Spain at 5.20pm and arrived on time in Essex two hours later.

She was driven straight to the private Wellington Hospital in St John's Wood, north-west London where her 68-year-old brother, who is godfather to Prince William, had undergone heart surgery.

Constantine was King of Greece from 1964 to 1973 when the monarchy was abolished.

The former king lives in London with his wife Anne-Marie.

The operation was a success and Queen Sofia was due to fly back to Madrid today, although it was not clear which airline she would be using.

Last year the British royal accounts revealed that Charles and Camilla had spent £316,061 hiring a private jet to take them on an official visit to Uganda and Turkey plus a further £210,000 on a yacht for their tour of the Caribbean.

The Duke of York racked up a bill of almost £250,000 visiting the Far East and India and more than £75,000 travelling to and from Brazil.

When travelling on scheduled flights, senior royals almost always travel business or first class, along with their staff.

Ryanair has been attacked by passengers' groups of late for introducing charges to take luggage on board and even to check in for flights.


Do you think you get good value for money from your royalty?

Spotlight onVocabulary:

If you are *keen to do something, you really want to do it and are enthusiastic about it
  • She is really keen to improve her English. She studies a lot, attends all her classes and reads a little in English most days.
  • You should ask him - he's always keen to help.

If you are keen on something, you want to do it or like (doing) it.
  • He's quite keen on tennis. He plays twice a week.
  • She seems keen on studying to become a lawyer just like her father.
  • What do you think of Rachel's new boyfriend? I'm not keen on him.


 

 

Give examples of what you are keen on (doing) or keen to do.

Read the following Ryanair-related stories:

Comments

Sir Joseph said…
Hi Graham,

Daily Mail doesn´t like the British Royal Family was spender. It said that they must follow Queen Sofia of Spain who had given the British royals a lesson in cost cutting. It is a big surprise for me. I can´t imagine that some Spanish people can be an example to English people. Anyway, Daily Mail didn´t know that the Spanish Royal Family didn´t have money to fly first class because we were in a deep recession in 2009. Also, her husband, king Juan Carlos, didn´t go with her because he was hunting to bring foods to eat.

Poor monarchs! They can´t do anything without people know it. When I go to the Canyon of the River of Wolves nobody knows it, but these poor people are not free. Royalty needs to spend our taxpayers to travel worldwide and this way they don´t stay confined in your palace. I´m keen to pay taxpayer. Everyone wants to see happy monarch. I looked much that The British Royal Family spent 6.2million pounds on travel. It was necessary. LOL

See you.
Saturday, 05 December, 2020
Graham said…
Good evening José,

I've just been looking into which European monarchies are the most expensive. Apparently the costliest is the Dutch as well as being the wealthiest. The Spanish have the cheapest though that figure doesn't include kickbacks and expenditure on black cards. :D



The Daily Mail doesn´t like the expense of the British Royal Family. It said that they must follow the example of Queen Sofia of Spain who had given the British royals a lesson in cost cutting. It is a big surprise for me. I can´t imagine Spanish people being an example to English people. Anyway, the Daily Mail didn´t know that the Spanish Royal Family didn´t have money to fly first class because we were in a deep recession in 2009. Also, her husband, king Juan Carlos, didn´t go with her because he was hunting to bring home food to eat.

Poor monarchs! They can´t do anything without people knowing about it. When I go to the Canyon of the River of Wolves nobody knows, but these poor people are not free. Royalty needs to spend taxpayers' money to travel worldwide and this way they don´t stay confined in their palaces. I´m keen to pay my taxes. Everyone wants to see a happy monarch. I saw that The British Royal Family spent 6.2million pounds on travel. It was necessary. LOL
Monday, 07 December, 2020
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