It's 10:35am on platform 11 at Kings Cross, the December air has a cutting feel to the face and commuters restlessly wait for refuse in the Kings Lynn train. A small, smartly dressed grey-haired woman steps on to the platform to join the queue, chatting to a younger man carrying her bag.

It's Her Majesty the Queen. Today she travelled to Sandringham like a relative pauper (in first class), where she will enjoy christmas with the rest of the royal family. This only a day after police released footage of terror suspects recording tube stations on mobile phones. The Queen and her minder, and a bunch of flowers given to her by a passerby, took the 90 minute journey unscathed, stepping off with a renewed common touch and a reduced carbon footprint. So the next time you pace past a sluggish pensioner at the station, take a minute to check you've not sworn at the Queen under your breath.