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

• Duchess of Sussex to ride on the royal train with head of state for the first time 
• She and Harry are also set to appear side by side on Buckingham Palace balcony 
• The Trooping of the Colour will mark the Queen's 92nd birthday on Saturday 

By REBECCA ENGLISH ROYAL CORRESPONDENT FOR THE DAILY MAIL

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.

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Royal sleepover! The monarch has invited Meghan to accompany her for a day of engagements on Thursday and the pair will travel together on board the Royal Train (pictured)

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.

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Lap of luxury: Her Majesty's personal saloon is 75ft long and fitted with secondary air suspension giving the Queen (pictured in June) an exceptionally smooth and comfortable ride

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First time: While the Queen often makes long distance journeys on her train overnight, it will be quite the eye-opener for her new grand-daughter-in-law Meghan (pictured in April)

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. 

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Meghan - pictured with Harry after their Windsor wedding - will ride with the Queen on the royal train, and the MailOnline can reveal that the pair are expected to travel overnight

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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. 

Last year royals travelled on the distinctive liveried train just 14 times at a cost of £900,000 to taxpayers.

Buckingham Palace officials admit it is expensive, but say the Queen, 92, finds it more comfortable to use on overnight on long-distance journeys.

The Queen and Meghan will be undertaking three official engagements in Cheshire next Thursday. 

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Harry and Meghan will finally appear on the balcony where Kate and William famously shared this kiss after their April 2011 wedding (pictured)

Duchess of Sussex Meghan is bowed to on first Royal outing

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Prince Harry and his new wife will also finally appear on Buckingham Palace's balcony as they attend the Trooping the Colour on Saturday after they broke with royal tradition by marrying outside of London. 

Harry and Meghan will grace the balcony with other senior royals during the celebration, which marks the Queen’s 92nd birthday.

A royal source told Mirror Online: 'There will be huge interest in seeing the newlyweds after the magic of their wedding.

'The balcony appearance is the perfect symbol of how Meghan has been welcomed into the family.'

The newlyweds have not been seen since attending Prince Charles’ 70th birthday three days after their wedding on May 19. 

How old is the Royal Train?

At over 150 years old, the Royal Train is the only private, non-commercial train service catering to one family still in operation in the UK.

The train came into existence during the reign of Queen Victoria who was the first reigning sovereign to make a train journey when she travelled from Slough to Paddington, London, on June 13, 1842.

In 1869 she commissioned a special pair of coaches at a cost of £1,800: a considerable sum in those days. Victoria remains to this day the only monarch to have paid with her own money for Royal carriages to be built.

When her son succeeded to the throne as Edward VII, he ordered a completely new Royal Train in the second year of his reign, 1902, with the instructions that 'it is to be as much like the Royal Yacht as possible'.

The interior had bedrooms, dressing rooms, day rooms and a smoking room. It boasted three-speed electric fans, electric radiators and cookers and even an electric cigar lighter.

The King's favourite was his smoking room, which was manned by two liveried footmen, one just to light His Majesty's cigars and the other to adjust the curtains and windows in case the sunlight was too strong, or fresh air was required.

His son and successor, George V, had the distinction of installing the first bath on a train anywhere in the world.

While Queen Victoria's was the first train in the world to have a lavatory installed on board - in 1850, at the suggestion of Prince Albert - only the Prince Consort used it in the early days of Royal progress. 

Members of the entourage who invariably accompanied the Queen had to wait until the train stopped and then use public lavatories.

While the train is fitted with several sleeper carriages the locomotive never travels through the night, instead making stops at secret locations away from the mainline so that the royal passengers can sleep uninterrupted.

The overnight stops are usually made about an hour's travelling time from the final destination. 

This means the Royals are able to rise, bathe, dress, have a leisurely breakfast and then be briefed by their private secretary on the day's programme as the train completes its journey. Arrivals are usually timed so that they do not disrupt any normal rail schedules.

The appearance of the Queen's current saloon is a long way from the velvet interiors and plush furnishings of carriages of the Victorian era.

Today the carriages are fitted with far simpler furnishings with a light wood cladding and each window fitted with a pair of drapes to ensure the utmost privacy.