THE Queen was yesterday whisked in her Rolls-Royce through the Channel tunnel in 32 minutes ╤ three minutes less than Eurotunnel had promised it would take her to get back to British soil from France.
Early in the day, fog had engulfed the British terminal at Folkestone, threatening to scupper an RAF fly-past over the site.
But by the time the royal party drove off the train at Folkestone, the clouds had cleared and the sun glinted on the rows of empty shuttle trains at adjacent platforms.
For the first time the famous phrase symbolising British isolation ╤ Fog In The Channel, Europe Cut Off ╤ could no longer apply.
But unbeknown to most of the thousands of guests, the Queen╒s Rolls-Royce Phantom VI had been shipped out early in the morning to Calais. P&O, now faced with losing a chunk of its most profitable ferry business, had thoughtfully waived the ú105 fare for the 17-year-old car and its driver.
The Queen made the return journey in the car accompanied by President Mitterrand in one of the hi-tech shuttle trains that will eventually carry cars, coaches and caravans through the 31-mile tunnel.
The Duke of Edinburgh and Mrs Mitterrand had followed in the train seated in the state Citroen once used by President de Gaulle.
Earlier in the day, the Queen, Prince Philip and other guests had travelled to Calais aboard a Eurostar train for the inaugural ceremony there for the ú10.5bn project.
But most of her subjects will be unable to make the same journey until October at the earliest, when Eurotunnel expects to launch its delayed ╥turn up and go╙ fare-
