A right royal sleepover! The Queen and Meghan will travel to Cheshire together…

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A right royal sleepover! The Queen and Meghan will travel to Cheshire together OVERNIGHT on board the monarch’s official train ahead of their day of engagements.

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The Duchess of Sussex is to experience a sleepover like no other when she travels overnight with the Queen to Cheshire on the Royal Train next week.

The monarch has invited Meghan to accompany her for a day of engagements on Thursday and MailOnline understands that, given the distances involved, the train will set off on Wednesday, arriving at Runcorn Station on Thursday morning.

While the Queen always tends to make long distance journeys on her train overnight, it will be quite the eye-opener for her new grand-daughter-in-law.

Much of the nine-carriage train currently in service dates back to 1977 when it was extensively used during the Silver Jubilee tours and while a novel experience, it is terribly dated and not entirely luxurious.

Her Majesty’s personal saloon is 75ft long and fitted with secondary air suspension giving passengers an exceptionally smooth and comfortable ride.

It has a bedroom, decorated in light pastel shades, with a 3ft-wide single bed in one corner (there are no double beds on the Royal Train) made up with cotton sheets and woollen blankets.

While Prince Philip’s pillows are plain, the Queen’s are trimmed with lace, with a small Royal cipher in one corner. The ceiling has subdued strip lighting and there are several reading lamps near the bed.

The adjoining bathroom has a full-size bath, but the fittings are modest and functional.

The train operators make sure the carriages are not crossing any bumpy points just after 7.30am: that could make the water slop around when the Queen is taking her bath. The train’s speed is always lower than the normal maximum for any route.

The sitting room has a sofa with hand-stitched velvet cushions, armchairs and the small dining table where the Queen and Prince Philip have breakfast.

The table can be extended to seat six people. There is also a desk in one corner where Her Majesty works on her official papers.

Although she has enjoyed several meetings with the Queen and spent time with her at Windsor Castle, the overnight journey will be unprecedented for Meghan.

It will provide the queen for a chance to spend some ‘quality time’ with Harry’s new bride, with relatively few interruptions.

Harry has already revealed that his grandmother has given Meghan her seal of approval – and that the dog-loving duchess has even charmed the monarch’s notoriously snappy corgis.