查爾斯王儲夫婦乘地鐵慶通車150週年大綱

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall took to the London tube on Wednesday and appeared mightily impressed. For the one-stop ride they boarded a brand new train – empty on arrival – to be whisked along the Metropolitan line from Farringdon to King's Cross.

Once they had alighted they reverted to a more familiar mode of travel, using a chauffeur-drivenlimo for the 200-yard hop to the five-star St Pancras Renaissance hotel.

The couple were marking the 150th anniversary of the capital's transport network and to add authenticity to their experience were equipped with Oyster cards pre-loaded with £10 each for the £2.10 journey, despite both qualifying for an over-60s Freedom Pass.

It has been a while since the prince caught the tube, 27 years in fact, when he travelled to Heathrow airport to open Terminal 4. Though he had not swiped an Oyster card before, he got the hang of it.

The public were allowed to board the train at Farringdon, with a group of police officers standing between passengers and the royal party, which included senior transport officials.

Charles seemed a little disappointed at the brevity of his journey. "Just one stop!" he exclaimed, as they arrived at King's Cross.

But the couple's fantasy experience continued. At the station's famed sign for Harry Potter's Platform 9¾, Camilla sought to board the Hogwarts Express by trying to push a trolley through the station wall (a trolley sheared in half is usually left stuck to the brickwork for visitors' enjoyment). She failed.

They then went on a tour of King's Cross station where they met people at a concourse pub – including two wearing exactly the sort of earpieces that plain clothes protection officers often sport.

At the St Pancras Renaissance hotel, which has had a £150m refurbishment, they rounded off their visit by knocking back a glass of Billy Dawson's punch (a Victorian rum and cognac drink) inside the Booking Office restaurant and bar.

The royal couple had been along the route of the underground's first line, which opened on 9 January 1863 and ran services between Paddington and Farringdon. The train used for the occasion on Wednesday was one of London Underground's new S-Stock, which are being introduced to 40% of the tube network. "Very nice, very smart," the duchess remarked.本週三威爾士親王與妻子康沃爾公爵夫人親自乘坐了倫敦地鐵，這次地鐵之行似乎給他們留下了強烈的印象。他們只搭乘了一站，上的是一輛嶄新的空車，這輛車沿大都會線由法靈頓站一直開到國王十字站。

下地鐵後，他們又改乘另一種更熟悉的交通工具——配備司機的豪華轎車，行駛200碼即到達五星級酒店聖潘克拉斯萬麗酒店。

親王夫婦此行是來慶祝倫敦地鐵150週年紀念日的。雖然兩人都已年過60，有資格免費乘坐公交，但爲了使感受更加真切，他們攜帶了牡蠣卡，而且往每張卡里各充值了10英鎊（此次行程票價爲2.1英鎊）。

威爾士親王已經有很長時間沒有乘坐地鐵了，事實上他上一次乘地鐵是在27年前，當時他乘地鐵到希思羅機場參加四號航站樓的落成儀式。雖然他以前沒有刷過牡蠣卡，不過他知道怎麼使用。

公衆被允許在法靈頓站上地鐵，一羣警察將王儲夫婦與普通乘客隔開，和王儲一同搭地鐵的還有交通部的高級官員。

查爾斯王子似乎對地鐵之行過於短暫感到有點失望。到達國王十字站時，他叫道：“才一站地啊！”

不過王儲夫婦的美妙經歷仍在繼續。他們來到因《哈利•波特》而聞名的“9又3/4站臺”前，卡米拉試着把手推車推進車站牆壁，想“登上”霍格沃茨特快列車，不過沒有成功。被對半鋸開的“半輛”手推車通常都會固定在磚牆上，供遊客遊玩之用。

於是兩人又在國王十字站遊覽了一番。他們在地鐵大廳的一個酒吧裏遇到了一些人，其中有兩人耳朵上戴着便衣警衛常戴的那種耳機。

到達花費1.5億英鎊重新裝修的聖潘克拉斯萬麗酒店後，他們在售票處餐廳和酒吧裏一口氣喝掉一杯比利•道森潘趣酒（維多利亞時期的一種朗姆酒與白蘭地混合飲料），圓滿結束了這次行程。

王儲夫婦搭乘地鐵的線路是倫敦地鐵開通的第一條線路，該線路於1863年1月9日開通，往返於帕丁頓和法靈頓之間。週三紀念日上啓用的列車是倫敦地鐵新增設的S型列車中的一輛，S型列車現已覆蓋地鐵網絡系統的40%。康沃爾公爵夫人評價說：“很好很漂亮。”