The British Royal Family travels with an unusual item according to a former press secretary.
Dickie Arbiter, a former press secretary who worked for King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales, and later Queen Elizabeth II, revealed on the Hello! royal podcast that the Royal Family travels with blood bags in case of emergency.
“You’ve got to make sure that you’re covered in every eventuality, and the aircraft carried blood as well. Blood, yes, for in the case there was a blood transfusion.”
Dickie Arbiter added: “There’s never really a guarantee that you’re going to get the right type of blood at your destination. So you carry it.”
Dickie Arbiter worked for the Royal Family between 1988 and 2000 and has since gone on to a career in royal commentary.
Gordon Raynor, a royal editor at The Telegraph, reported in 2016 that Queen Elizabeth II always traveled with a Royal Navy doctor nearby, and that this person was “carrying a bulky medical bag containing a mobile defibrillator and all manner of emergency medicine.”
Blood joins the list of requirements for royal travel, which also includes a black mourning outfit in case of death back home. Queen Elizabeth II was without a black mourning dress on her 1952 Commonwealth tour, and a dress had to be rushed onto the plane when it landed back in the UK for her first time on British soil as Queen.
There is also another unspoken rule that heirs cannot travel together on the same plane in case of an accident. King Charles and Prince William typically did not fly together. William and George have, though this is due to economic factors and permission from Queen Elizabeth II, as George was deemed too young. It remains to be seen whether this will change during the reign of King Charles III.
