A CARRIAGE fit for a queen has been lovingly restored to its former grandeur and sits in resplendent opulence in Embsay.

Queen Victoria's saloon carriage was built for the London and South Western Railway's royal train in 1885 and two years later was altered to become her majesty's personal coach in her Golden Jubilee year.

She used it regularly to travel from Waterloo to Gosport from where she would journey on the Royal Yacht to the Isle of Wight to Osborne House.

Several European heads of state used the carriage when making a state visit to Britain, including Kaiser Willhelm.

King Edward 7th used it too.

Following Queen Victoria’s death in 1901 it continued in royal use until 1910 before being converted to a family saloon and eventually being sold as a body by the Southern Railway in 1930.

From then until the 1980s it was a home for a gamekeeper before being moved to various sites for preservation.

In 2017 it was restored by Stephen Middleton, who owns Stately Trains, at Embsay, in just six months and today it is being used on special trains to give passengers a taste of 19th century royal travel.

"I knew the carriage existed and then heard that is was being broken up and bits were to to be sold at an auction in Ipswich.

"I put my marriage on the line and went down and bought it," said Mr Middleton.

"It was in a poor condition with part of one side of it missing and no wheels.

"I brought it up to Bolton Abbey where it stayed under a cover for 10 years. In fact I had never seen it properly until a Channel 4 camera crew came along last year to film for Peter Snow’s Great Rail Restorations.

"In a leap of faith I agreed to complete the restoration in six months, while I would really have preferred to have taken four years," he added.

"It cost a bit more than the TV company paid too. The restoration came to around £72,000 and Channel 4 gave me £60,000, which was a great help.

"There could have been temptation to cut corners to complete it but I felt I had the spirit of Queen Victoria breathing down my neck and I feared her wrath so every possible attention to detail was taken.

"Eight people including myself and my wife worked on it and we only had two days off in six months.

"The effort has been very much worthwhile to see the finished product. I even managed to get a photograph of the carriage before it was altered in 1887 so I could take it back to how it was originally."

From July the former royal coach will be operated on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway where Mr Middleton's fleet of pre-1914 coaches are kept and will be available for the public to see and enjoy.

"Someone asked me why I wasn't keeping it in a building away from the public but I said I wanted to let people use it to feel like royalty.

"I have even researched Queen Victoria's favourite foods and drinks so people can sit and be treated as royals for the day.

"Her favourite tipple was Lochnagar whisky which is distilled near Balmoral and which is still being produced so I really have to get some of that.

"She also enjoyed things like beef, cold boiled chicken, pineapples, almonds, lamb and Victoria sponge and guests will be able to enjoy these too."

"I am thrilled with the finished carriage. Wetherby upholsterers have done an amazing job matching the fabrics originally used," said Mr Middleton who restored his first carriage, dated 1889, in 1993.

"I have also recently learned that three armchairs have been sourced to match those which would have been in her carriage.

"I am not sure when they will be completed as the upholsterers are very busy with other projects at the moment and I am regarded as an "also ran" when it comes to work."

What Mr Middleton does know is that 900 handmade fabric buttons have been painstakingly made in the restoration which adds to the coach's attention to detail.

Three weeks ago Mr Middleton and his wife, Jenny, were presented with a Transport Trust restoration award by HRH Prince Michael of Kent of which the couple are extremely proud.

The coach seats 16 and is also available for parties, weddings and corporate charter.

The task of completing the restoration of the carriage from start to finish is to be shown on the Channel 4's Peter Snow's Great Rail Restorations next Wednesday evening, June 27, at 8pm.

Multi award winning Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway is one of Britain’s Heritage Railways and a registered educational charity.

It runs regular steam services throughout the year and lots of exciting special events: 1940s weekend, branchline weekend, Santa Specials, goods trains days, Halloween specials and lots more besides.