Quick Answer: Almost every royal carries the same navy booklet as the rest of us, so when people ask, ‘Do royals need a passport to travel?’ The answer is yes, with one exception. The reigning monarch is exempt, because British passports are issued in his name. King Charles III travels without one; Queen Camilla, the Prince of Wales and the rest do not.
- Only the sovereign is exempt from holding a British passport.
- Every other working royal, including children, carries one.
- Passports have been issued in the King’s name since 18 July 2023.
- A fully redesigned passport began rolling out on 2 December 2025.
- Separate travel rules cover heirs, medical cover and mourning clothes.
Why the Sovereign Never Carries One
The exemption is set out plainly by the monarchy’s official website, royal.uk, which states, “When travelling overseas, the Sovereign does not require a British passport. As a British passport is issued in the name of His Majesty, it is unnecessary for The King to possess one. All other Members of the Royal Family, including The Queen and The Prince of Wales, have passports.”
A passport is a formal request from the monarch asking foreign states to let the bearer travel freely. The King cannot sensibly request such a document himself. The same principle removes his need for a driving licence or number plates on his cars.
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Which Royals Still Need a Passport
Everyone else. Queen Camilla, Prince William, the Princess of Wales, Princess Anne, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and the Sussexes all travel on standard documents. So did the youngest royals, like Prince George, require an infant passport before joining his parents on their 2014 tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Charles himself held a passport for decades as Prince of Wales, surrendering the need for one only upon his accession in September 2022.
Royal parties still clear customs and immigration like any other traveller, although they are usually fast-tracked. Concierge specialists Airssist note that even an exempt monarch may face identity verification on arrival in some countries.
What is Printed Inside a British Passport
The first page carries the Royal Arms alongside this wording: “His Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State requests and requires in the name of His 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.”
In the Realms — Commonwealth countries where the King is Sovereign — the request is made in the name of that Realm’s Governor-General. In Canada, the minister of foreign affairs makes the request on His Majesty’s behalf.
A New Reign, A New Document
For 70 years, the wording was “Her Majesty”. That changed on 18 July 2023, when the Home Office confirmed the first passports since 1952 issued under a male monarch’s title.
Then Home Secretary Suella Braverman said, “For 70 years, Her Majesty has appeared on British passports, and many of us will not remember a time when she did not feature. Today marks a significant moment in UK history, as the first British passports since 1952 start featuring the title of His Majesty, the King.”
The story moved on again in December 2025, as GOV UK announced. From 2 December, new passports carry the King’s Coat of Arms with the rounded Tudor Crown, replacing Queen Elizabeth II’s arms, plus images of Ben Nevis, the Lake District, Three Cliffs Bay and the Giant’s Causeway. Older passports remain valid until they expire.
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Two Heirs, Two Aircraft
Direct heirs are discouraged from flying together, protecting the line of succession against a single catastrophe. It is convention rather than law, and the Sovereign has the final say.
Speaking on HELLO! Magazine’s A Right Royal Podcast, King Charles’s former pilot Graham Laurie explained, “Interestingly, we flew all four: the Prince, the Princess, Prince William and Prince Harry, up until Prince William was 12 years old. After that, he had to have a separate aircraft, and we could only fly all four together when they were young with the written permission of Her Majesty.”
Prince George, second in line, turned 12 in July 2025, so the same convention now shapes his travel. Permission has been granted before: George toured Australia as a baby, and the Wales family flew together to Canada in 2016 and to Poland and Germany in 2017.
Blood Supplies, Black Outfits and Monogrammed Bags
Reporting by Gordon Rayner in The Telegraph revealed that senior royals travel with their blood packs where local supplies are unreliable, with a doctor and defibrillator never more than a few paces away.
Every royal also packs a black outfit, a habit born in 1952 when the new Queen had to wait aboard her aircraft for mourning clothes after her father’s death.
Luggage is monogrammed and colour-coded by family member. Security teams are smaller than you might expect; seven staff accompanied William and Kate to Los Angeles in 2011.
Aircraft, Trains and Budgets
Channel 5’s Secrets of the Royal Flight explored the fleet: chartered jets, the Royal Train and two maroon Sikorsky S-76 helicopters in service since 2009. Commercial flights are common too, usually with British Airways.
Costs are published: the 2018 Caribbean tour by the then Prince of Wales came to £417,000, while Harry’s and Meghan’s Fiji and Tonga visits cost £81,000.
As the Mirror has highlighted, these protocols outlast any single reign, and, as People reported during the 2023 passport rollout, they shift quietly with each accession. Queen Elizabeth II covered more than a million miles, Reuters calculated, and visited 117 countries, never once producing a passport.
Final Verdict
Only the monarch is exempt. Because British passports are issued in the King’s name, Charles III cannot hold one, just as his mother never did across 70 years. Every other royal — spouses, heirs, children — carries a standard document and clears immigration as normal.
Around that single exemption sit further conventions covering separate flights for heirs, onboard medical provision, mourning attire and monogrammed luggage.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Do royals need a passport to travel abroad?
Ans: Yes, all of them except the reigning monarch. Passports are issued in the King’s name, so he cannot hold one himself.
Did Queen Elizabeth II have a passport?
Ans: No. She travelled to 117 countries across her reign without ever carrying one, because passports were then issued in her name.
Does Prince William have a passport?
Ans: Yes. As heir he is treated like any other traveller and will only lose the requirement when he becomes king.
Do royal children need passports?
Ans: They do. Prince George was issued an infant passport before his first overseas tour at nine months old.
Can two heirs fly on the same plane?
Ans: Convention says no, to protect the succession. Exceptions are made with the Sovereign’s written permission, usually while the child is young.
Does the King need a driving licence?
Ans: No. Licences are also issued in his name, so he drives without one and without number plates on his vehicles.
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