London Transport Museum to celebrate the Queen and the capital’s transport

London’s world-famous public transport system has been keeping the city moving throughout the lifetime and reign of Queen Elizabeth II. In 2022, the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee also coincides with the opening of the capital’s newest railway, the Elizabeth line.

Over the Platinum Jubilee Weekend (Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 June), kids visiting London Transport Museum in Covent Garden will be given a colourful roundel adorned paper crown to mark the Royal occasion (while stocks last) and in the Museum’s café Canteen, which is run by Benugo, guests can enjoy a special Jubilee cream tea and Victoria sponge cake, as well as colour-changing Elizabeth line inspired lemonade or cocktail.

The Museum also has 70 free adult daytime entry tickets up for grabs on each day of the Platinum Jubilee Weekend (Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 June) between 14:00 and 17:00. These limited tickets must be booked in advance on the Museum’s website.

During a visit to London Transport Museum, people can see vehicles and objects from 200 years of London’s history, including the Capital’s iconic red Routemaster bus which first entered service in 1954, the year after the Queen’s coronation.
Visitors can also marvel at how the Tube map has evolved to the present day in an updated digital map display which includes the new Elizabeth line railway, learn to ‘drive’ an Elizabeth line train in the Future Engineers gallery and discover the secrets of disused stations that lie beneath the city’s streets in the award-winning Hidden London exhibition in the Global Gallery.
Adult tickets to visit London Transport Museum cost £21 and offer free return entry for a whole year – and kids go free! Book online in advance www.ltmuseum.co.uk.

Queen Elizabeth II and London’s public transport network

This historical timeline researched by London Transport Museum’s curators celebrates the times Queen Elizabeth II has visited London’s transport network, from her first journey on the District line as a Princess in 1939 to the opening of the Elizabeth line in May 2022.
A Royal trip along the District line, 15 May 1939

A few months before the onset of the Second World War, the then Princess Elizabeth rode on the Underground for the first time at the age of 13. She travelled from St James’s Park station with her sister Princess Margaret, their governess Marion Kirk Crawford and Lady Helen Graham. Despite their status, the Princesses sat in a third-class smoking car on the train.

Opening the Victoria line, 7 March 1969

Thirty years later, the Queen took her next Tube journey to mark the opening of the Victoria line, making her the first reigning monarch to travel on the London Underground. After experiencing the new Green Park station, including its ticket barriers, the Queen rode in the cab of the first train, operating the buttons to set the train on its short journey to Oxford Circus. The driving car that the Queen travelled in is preserved at London Transport Museum’s Depot in Acton Town. Visitors can see this on display at the Museum’s upcoming Depot Open Days on 2 and 3 July.