Christmas tree express for the Queen

Historical connection.

But let's start from the very beginning: what exactly does Upper Franconia have to do with the British royal family? Here's the story: there's a historical link between the English royal house and that of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In 1840 Queen Victoria married her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. Following the death of her husband, during her 63-year reign, Queen Victoria had a number of monuments of the Prince erected, of which one also in Coburg. Thus, the town of Coburg's city council thought that if the royal family are to receive a Christmas tree, then it makes sense for it to come form Coburg.

Ceremonial farewell.

After felling the fir in the Callenberger Forest and a ceremonial farewell of the convoy on Coburg's market square, the delegation of both drivers, employees from Coburg city council and members of the press set off on Monday 14 November in the direction of Windsor Castle. Accompanying the Actros was a Sprinter support vehicle with 2000 Christmas baubles from the town of Lauscha, famous for its glass blowing.

Setting off in Upper Franconia.

Christian Schleicher: "We set off at five in the morning. Incidentally, at the time of departure, Upper Franconia had a temperature of minus 6 degrees, not to mention 15 centimetres of snow." Completely different to the weather that would greet them a day later when they arrived in England: "There, it was suddenly 18 degrees with plenty of sunshine." Initially, the convoy headed west through the Rhön mountains, onto the A66 via Frankfurt and further along the A45 in the direction of Siegen. Then, the troop drove in the direction of Cologne along the A4 and via the A44 heading for Belgium.

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Stopover in Belgium.

In Flanders, the Queen's Christmas Tree Express stopped for the night in Coburg's Belgian twin town Oudenaarde. There, the Lord Mayor and a number of other officials gave the team a friendly reception. To welcome them, they sang a heartfelt "O Christmas tree" under the watchful eyes of the Belgian television crew which was also on hand for the event. Schleicher and Hofmann parked the Actros together with its coniferous load in the grounds of the local fire station for the night where the Belgian fire fighters kept a watchful eye on the Britain-bound freight.

Arrival in England.

The next morning, the Actros drove to the port of Calais where, while checking in for the ferry, it initially caused a spot of confusion. Christian Schleicher: "I gave one lady the paperwork and said that we were transporting a Christmas tree for the Queen. The grim-looking expression on her face said it all." With a letter from Buckingham Palace, Schleicher managed to shed some light on the matter. That said, the Actros was only allowed on to the next ferry. This left port at 11:20 a.m. in the direction of Dover. Upon arriving in England, Schleicher and Hofmann instantly had their hands full. The pair were welcomed by a British press team. To this end, the team had to drive a couple of extra laps around the port town. After four hours, their journey continued on towards Windsor.

Christian Schleicher teamed up with haulier Christoph Hofmann to drive the Christmas tree from Coburg to Windsor.

Christian, what was it like to be behind the wheel for the Christmas tree transport?

I heard about the City of Coburg's idea and thought it was brilliant. For our branches in Würzburg and Nuremberg, I'd already had to pick up Christmas trees from the Callenberg Forest. I wanted to be part of the task force that got the tree to England. It was great fun to do.

How did customs officials react to the Queen's Christmas tree?

At first they thought we were pulling their leg. But I had the letter from Buckingham Palace with me. That definitely helped. On our boarding pass for the ferry, our load was written on there as "X-MAS TREE"!

How was the tree received in Windsor?

Everyone was really happy with the Christmas tree. It really is a nice tree. During the journey, lots of people spoke to us about it and on the way back, when we got to the Port of Dover, the team at check-in welcomed us with a round of applause. Word had already gotten round about what we were up to!

Photos: Daimler AG, City of Coburg