The Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke of Edinburgh outside Baker Street Tube Station.The Duchess of Cambridge has been given a gift every pregnant woman travelling on the London Underground probably needs – a “Baby on board” badge.
Kate still has a slim figure but, at five months pregnant, her baby bump is growing by the week.
She was given the practical present as she joined the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh at Baker Street Tube station to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the transport network.
The engagement was the Queen’s first public event in more than a week but she looked well and chatted to senior London Underground managers, train drivers and station staff during her visit.
The Queen, who has been suffering the symptoms of gastroenteritis, had been forced to miss a number of engagements since she was first declared ill by Buckingham Palace almost three weeks ago.
As the royal party stood on a platform, London Underground chief operating officer Howard Collins made the presentation of the white badge printed with the words “Baby on board” and featuring the famous London Underground roundel.
Watching guests laughed as Mr Collins handed over the gift and Kate held it against her teal-coloured Malene Birger coat and joked “I’ll make sure I wear it at home”.
Mr Collins said afterwards: “Kate said ‘Oh yes, I’ve seen this before’. She used to travel on the Tube so she probably saw them then. “She asked me ‘How do they work?’ and I said they’re fantastic, they really do make a difference - saves men the embarrassment of having to guess if a woman is pregnant.
“She asked so many great questions of the staff and seemed really interested in our work.”
The badges, available from Transport for London (TfL), overcome the awkwardness often felt by pregnant women of having to ask someone to give up their seat.
I’ll make sure I wear it at home
The Queen’s first journey on the London Underground was in May 1939 when she was 13 years old, with her governess, Marion Crawford, and sister, Princess Margaret.
She last visited a Tube station in February 2010, when she travelled to Aldgate station to meet staff and view a memorial plaque dedicated to the seven people killed at Aldgate during the July 7, 2005 bombings. Today, Baker Street station’s main ticket hall was closed to commuters, who had to use side entrances, and Metropolitan line trains were not stopping at two platforms used to host a reception where the royal visitors met LU workers.
The Queen, Philip and Kate met groups of staff including Devon Wordsworth, a Metropolitan line train driver with 30 years’ service.
He said: “It’s great to see the Queen in good health. She looked well and it was a pleasure to meet her. After 30 years’ service, it’s a great honour get to shake hands with the Queen.”
The royal guests were shown the plush red velvet interior of the 1892 Metropolitan Railway Jubilee Carriage No 353, the oldest operational Underground carriage in existence.
Over the decades it has been used as a garden shed, US servicemen’s club and a military tailor’s workshop but has recently been restored by the Ffestiniog Railway – specialists in heritage railway carriage restorations – on behalf of the London Transport Museum. Baker Street was part of the first stretch of the Underground network which ran between Paddington and Farringdon and opened on January 9, 1863 when it was known as the Metropolitan Railway.
After seeing an example of Tube rolling stock from the 19th century, the royal visitors walked through the modern equivalent, one of LU’s new S-Stock trains which are being introduced on 40% of the network.
The trains will replace older models and will offer air conditioning for commuters.
The royal guests chatted in turn to Gabor Simic, 40, a Metropolitan line train driver, who was waiting in his cab.
With an array of controls in front of him, he talked the Queen through most of them. She listened intently and asked: “Do people drive on the same line?”
After walking through the carriage, the Queen then unveiled a plaque, naming the train Queen Elizabeth II.