Netflix Is Releasing A Special Episode of ‘Thomas & Friends’ Featuring Prince Harry This Week

Thomas the Tank Engine is celebrating his 75th anniversary and Prince Harry is helping with the festivities.

The popular train is featuring an all new episode, just in time for his birthday, called “Thomas & Friends: The Royal Engine.”  In the episode, Sir Topham Hatt has been invited by the Queen to come to London to receive and award, and a young Prince Charles requests that Thomas be the engine to bring him to London.  Animated versions of the Queen and the Prince of Wales as a child appear in the episode.

Thomas gets lost on his way, he meets the Royal Train, the Duchess of Loughborough, voiced by British actress Rosamund Pike from Gone Girl.   The Duchess is the newest character in the Thomas & Friends family, with the important job of carrying the Royal Family from place to place.

Prince Harry introduces the episode, while sitting in an arm chair and reading from The Royal Engine book.  The prince was noted to be a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine as a child, with photos of him with his Thomas themed bag heading to preschool in the late 1980s.  In his intro to Thomas & Friends: The Royal Engine, he shares:

Thomas the Tank Engine has been a comforting, familiar face to so many families over the last 75 years – entertaining, educating and inspiring children on important issues through exciting stories and characters. I certainly have fond memories of growing up with Thomas & Friends and being transported to new places through his adventures. I am very proud to have been asked to take part in this special episode. I wish Thomas & Friends a very happy anniversary.

The special episode will stream on Netflix in the United States on May 1, on Milkshake in the United Kingdom on May 2, and later in May in Canada and Australia.