"Royal Refreshment: Queen Elizabeth's In-Flight Comforts Unveiled" | Vanity Fair

In 1989, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, took a trip to Singapore where they attended a luncheon with the small nation’s Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and visited a memorial for a soldier who died in World War II. Though the pair flew commercial instead of using a private plane, they took a swanky flight aboard a British Airways Concorde. Recently, confidential instructions on how to serve the royal pair were recently uncovered in the effects of a flight attendant who served them along the way. This week, UK-based auction house Hansons will start bids on a collection of memorabilia from the collection of Elizabeth Evans, a flight attendant who worked with VIPs on the Concorde for 28 years, including a certificate in honor of her service on the 1989 Singapore flight and plans, maps, menus, and wine lists related to the flight.

“Elizabeth was clearly highly regarded by BA because she served some of the most important people in the world,” said Charles Hanson, the auction house’s owner, in a statement. “Take that 1989 British Airways Royal Flight. Her memorabilia includes confidential instructions on how to care for our late queen and Prince Philip—right down to the sweets Her Majesty preferred on take-off.”

HM Queen Elizabeth II waves goodbye as she leaves Barbados after a four-day visit to the Caribbean Island. March 8, 1989.

Welcome ceremony for Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh after their arrival at Grantley Adams International Airport, on Concorde for a four-day visit to the Caribbean Island of Barbados. March 8, 1989.

According to the instructions, the queen wanted a bowl of Velamints, a sugar-free mint that originated in West Germany, to be placed in her dressing room. The plans also provided insight into how the queen liked to sleep on flights. “The instructions also stated she, ‘tends to like a Martini before her guests arrive,’” he added. “Royal comforts included having her own pillows, and her dresser made up her bed. Also, if Her Majesty was asleep prior to landing, cabin crew were instructed not to disturb her. She should be left in her bed.”

The collection also includes a special tri-fold for King Charles III and Princess Diana after their 1981 wedding, along with other menus signed by Warren Beatty, Cliff Richard, Virginia Wade, and Billie Jean-King. After Evans died in 2017, the collection of Concorde memorabilia went to her niece, Jo Smallwood, a retired police officer in the UK’s West Midlands.

“I was aware of some of the things Elizabeth had kept from her career with BA but nothing on this scale. She married late in life, moving to Devon and finally Hermanus in South Africa,” Smallwood said. “Having found this treasure trove relating to my aunt’s career and experiences with BA, especially the fantastic trips on Concorde and serving the Queen, I found it sad that none of it had seen the light of day. I believe this collection is a little piece of history that should be shared and enjoyed by somebody.”