Why Doesn’t The Queen of England Need a Passport?
Being the queen of a country gives you lots of advantages and rules can be made and broke for, so what about Queen Elizabeth II. As the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, the commonwealth, and certain other countries that have since declared independence but decided they kind of like having the Queen on their money, Queen Elizabeth II enjoys a number of unique perks and one such is that the Queen does not need a passport to travel.
But why is it so?
The answer lies in the fact that all British passports are issued in the Queen’s name. In fact, if you open up a British passport and turn to the first page, you will find a message that reads:
Her Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State requests and requires in the name of Her Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.
As a British passport is issued in the name of Her Majesty, it is unnecessary for The Queen to possess one. All other members of the Royal Family, including The Duke of Edinburgh and The Prince of Wales, have passports.
Of course, a passport also has another purpose- identifying the person in possession of it. As such, the Queen does have to jump through similar hoops as an ordinary person when she travels and is required to give her name, date of birth and occupation (she unsurprisingly usually just answers “Queen”) to officials upon arrival in a foreign country.
