Spain’s Queen Sofia ‘flies Ryanair’

On the day the Irish airline's punchy owner had to explain his first annual loss, Michael O'Leary was at least able to boast that royalty now chooses to fly Ryanair. Queen Sofia of Spain is understood to have bought a £13 ticket last Sunday to nip over to Stansted, London from the northern Spanish city of Santander.

She was visiting her brother, the former King Constantine of Greece, who is recuperating from heart surgery in the Wellington Hospital in north London.

Members of the Spanish royal family could teach Prince Charles and his family a thing or two about cost-saving: apart from King Juan Carlos, who uses military planes, other royals always take commercial flights, whether flying internally or abroad. But this is understood to be the first time any of them has chosen the budget airline.

Before O'Leary gets over-excited, the reason is thought to be that Ryanair is the only line that flies the route from Santander to London direct.

Still, when you've just announced a dive into the red by E169m - compared to a soaring profit of E481 the previous year - every bit of PR helps. And, of course, Queen Sofia won't be put off by O'Leary's latest wheeze, confirmed yesterday - to charge passengers to use the onboard lavatories. As every schoolboy knows, queens don't need to go. ·