royal yacht replacement

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A New Royal Yacht Is Coming

• By Phil Draper
• January 7, 2022

There are yachts, and there are superyachts, but royal yachts tend to be something else again. The United Kingdom hasn’t had a royal yacht for almost 25 years, but the British government just announced its intention to replace Her Majesty’s Yacht Britannia .

No firm details have been released of what this replacement could be, but design proposals were recently invited. Time is of the essence, given that the official policy statement came with a proposed launch date just three years away.

The open brief suggests that what is needed now is less yacht, more national ship—a world-first build. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he sees the vessel as more of a floating embassy to support royals and government ministers alike.

That concept is broadly familiar. During its 44-year service life as a ship of state, Britannia racked up more than 1 million nautical miles and 696 foreign visits. Every itinerary was about promoting the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, and trade promotion was always a part of the job description. For instance, Britannia made several trips to the United States, including both coasts and Chicago via the St. Lawrence Seaway. Various presidents and their wives were guests aboard, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

But what defines a royal yacht?

It’s not just about scale, although the eight-deck, all-steel Britannia was one of the biggest yachts in the world when it launched. It was built at Scotland’s John Brown and Co. of Clydebank, the same yard that built the ocean liners RMS Queen Elizabeth and RMS Queen Mary . Britannia entered service in January 1954, one year after Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. Her late husband, Prince Philip, was a former naval officer and enthusiastically oversaw Britannia’s specification and construction.

The yacht, beyond its routine duties, could rapidly convert to a 200-bed hospital ship or an offshore refuge for the royal family in case of nuclear war. Britannia is 412 feet length overall, has a 55-foot beam and measures 5,862 gross tons. Thanks to two turbine sets producing up to 12,000 hp, Britannia was capable of a continuous 21 knots throughout its service years.

Those were the days when a yacht of that size was unusual: There are now almost 30 giga-yachts afloat with more gross tonnage than Britannia . Only a quarter of them have any obvious royal affiliations.

But in its day, Britannia was an operation to behold. The yacht was home to 21 officers and 256 sailors of the British Royal Navy and could host functions with 250 guests. The staterooms and staff quarters were aft, and the crew were forward. The yacht’s complement included a Royal Marines guard detachment in separate onboard barracks, a 26-strong military band, and a full general surgery team with an operating theater. The permanent noncommissioned crew were known affectionately as the “yotties.”

Britannia was where the most senior members of the royal family stayed when on suitable official visits. It was not where they would normally spend vacations, although Prince Charles and Princess Diana famously used Britannia for a honeymoon cruise in the Mediterranean. They had the yacht’s only double bed installed aboard.

As for Britannia’s successor, various sources have quoted ballpark figures for the build in the low hundreds of millions of dollars. The final specification will depend on how much space is practical for conference and entertainment areas, the number of guest staterooms, the crew complement, helicopter use, tenders, provisions, technology, and security. Johnson also says he wants the vessel to incorporate cutting-edge green technologies and showcase best practices with regard to sustainability.

The new yacht is expected to have a service life of at least 30 years. Given that trillions of dollars’ worth of trade deals were reportedly secured aboard Britannia , the cost for that lifespan is not expected to be a concern.

Construction could start as early as next year, following consultations with the royal family, the Royal Navy and various government departments. The vessel will officially be the responsibility of the Ministry of Defense and classified as if it were a warship.

Floating History

Now retired, royal yacht Britannia lies permanently in Edinburgh, Scotland. This vessel has been one of the Scottish capital’s most popular tourist draws for more than 25 years. It is open daily and sees more than 1,000 visitors a day. Guided tours take in all areas, including a view into the queen’s bedroom, private sitting rooms, state dining room and drawing rooms, sun lounge and veranda, bridge, crew decks, and engine room.

The First Royal Yacht

The wooden wheel aboard Britannia came from the only other royal yacht to bear the name, the much older 122-foot gaff-rigged cutter Britannia . Built for Prince Albert Edward, who later became King Edward VII, it was famously campaigned at big-boat

regattas by him and his son, King George V. The yacht launched in spring 1893 and was a near-sister to Valkyrie II , which unsuccessfully challenged the Nathanael Greene Herreshoff-built Vigilant for the America’s Cup that same year. Both Valkyrie II and Britannia

were designed by George Lennox Watson and built at the D&W Henderson Shipyard in Scotland. Following George V’s death and per his wishes, the vessel was stripped of its spars and fitting, and scuttled in deep water off England’s South Coast on July 10, 1936.

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Royal Yacht Britannia to be replaced by an ocean surveillance ship

A £250m scheme to create a successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia has been scrapped – with the Defense Secretary telling MPs the procurement of a new Royal Navy vessel is being prioritized instead.

The national flagship plan was sunk by Rishi Sunak's administration as Whitehall braced for cuts in the 17 November autumn statement by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt. The plan had been championed by Boris Johnson when he was Prime Minister but has faced criticism from MPs at a time when there are other priorities for defense spending.

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said he was prioritizing the procurement of the multi-role ocean surveillance ship (MROSS) instead of the flagship.

”In the face of the Russian illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and (Vladimir) Putin's reckless disregard of international arrangements designed to keep world order, it is right that we prioritize delivering capabilities which safeguard our national infrastructure,“ he said.

That meant he had ”also directed the termination of the national flagship competition with immediate effect to bring forward the first MROSS ship in its place“.

Mr Wallace told MPs the MROSS would ”protect sensitive defense infrastructure and civil infrastructure“ and ”improve our ability to detect threats to the seabed and cables“.

Shadow defense secretary John Healey welcomed the news that the ”previous prime minister's vanity project“ has been scrapped and the spending switched to ”purposes that will help defend the country“.

It was revealed in May last year that the Royal Yacht Britannia successor was to be crewed by Royal Navy personnel and the construction of the vessel was expected to begin this year.

The vessel had been expected to be constructed in the UK and taken to the water in 2024 or 2025, and would have toured the world as a ”floating embassy“.

But the Daily Telegraph, which has been campaigning for a replacement for Britannia, reported that the two private consortia bidding for the work were told on Monday morning the project is being axed.

The Defense Secretary last year defended the decision to fund the building of a successor for the Royal Yacht Britannia as ”affordable“ in the face of growing criticism and questions from MPs.

The Commons Defense Committee warned in 2021 that there was ”no evidence of the advantage to the Royal Navy of acquiring the national flagship” and that the initial expenditure of around £250m, combined with the £20-30m a year running costs and providing a crew, would pile extra pressure on the senior service.

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Even the monarchy doesn’t want a new royal yacht. But Liz Truss does

Royal Yacht Britannia was decommissioned in 1997. Now the Tory leadership hopeful is backing another one despite minimal public and political support

A ll the clocks on the Royal Yacht Britannia , now moored beside the blue car park at Ocean Terminal shopping centre in Leith, near Edinburgh, show the same time: 3.01pm. That was the moment on 11 December 1997 that the Queen stepped off the ship for the last time, famously weeping as a Royal Navy band piped a farewell to the soon-to-be-mothballed vessel.

No one, not even the Queen herself, can seriously have expected ever to see another royal yacht. But 25 years later, here we are. On Thursday, as the country recovered from state of emergency temperatures and amid an escalating cost of living disaster, Liz Truss sought to strengthen her case to be Britain’s next prime minister by pledging support for another national big ship.

“I do support the idea of promoting our trade around the world,” she told reporters in Peterborough. However – new broom and all that – she wouldn’t do it Boris Johnson ’s way. Rather than expecting taxpayers to stump up the projected £200m cost, “what I would be seeking is to get investment into a yacht, looking to the private sector to assist with that to make it financially viable”. Sponsors with nine-figure marketing budgets, do step this way.

What is it about the thought of a big British ship that gets some people so excited? The Daily Telegraph has been campaigning for one since 2016, not coincidentally the same year the paper and its then columnist helped secure Brexit. Johnson announced last May that a new “national flagship” would indeed be built, “reflecting the UK’s burgeoning status as a great, independent maritime trading nation”.

The Ministry of Defence, with a £16bn backlog in its equipment budget, isn’t keen to pick up the tab , however. Truss’s rival Rishi Sunak , while chancellor, was also at odds with Johnson on the subject, with a source telling the Sunday Times last year that there was “a huge row” over funding; another described the yacht plans as “a complete and utter shitshow”.

The British royal family has had its own yacht since 1660 when Charles II, newly restored to the English throne, bought the small coal ship on which he had fled for France a decade earlier, naming it, rakishly, HMY Royal Escape. Eighty-two ships later, Britannia was launched in 1953 with a bottle of “Empire wine” – a rationing-friendly substitute for champagne.

The new Queen and her husband were closely involved in its design, which made it “rather special”, the Duke told an interviewer in 1995: “All the other places we live in had been built by predecessors.” Britannia was extensively used by the royal family and in almost 1,000 state visits , but became increasingly costly to maintain and Tony Blair took the decision in 1997 not to recommission it, a decision ( unlike some others ) that he later said he regretted.

Today, however, it is not clear who really wants a yacht. Not the public – YouGov found only 29% in favour last year. Not the royal family, who were unhappy about plans to name a new ship after the Duke of Edinburgh and have called it “not something we have asked for”.

Senior military figures aren’t keen either, among them R Adm Chris Parry , a former senior naval commander (“Frankly the narrative around this has been really poor. And the designs I’ve seen – I wouldn’t go to sea in that”). And many Tories, too, agree with Lord (Ken) Clarke who told the BBC it was “silly populist nonsense”.

Six weeks before Conservative members choose Britain a prime minister, however, Truss knows that talking about a yacht while saying she wants to privately fund it “allows her to pledge support for the idea without it ever happening,” as Sunder Katwala, director of the thinktank British Future, noted .

Sunak, meanwhile, is yet to be drawn on his plans for the yacht if he wins, though as some have observed, if need be the multimillionaire could comfortably fund it himself .

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The new Yacht Britannia

Boris Johnson wants a new ‘national flagship’ for Britain. Is it a good idea?

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What is being proposed?

In July, the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace formally announced plans for a new national flagship to “promote British businesses around the world”. Commissioned at a cost of £200m to £250m, it would be designed and built in the UK. Boris Johnson said it would reflect “the UK’s burgeoning status as a great, independent maritime trading nation”. The boat is to be a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia, which reached the end of its working life in 1997. The idea, first proposed in 2001, was taken up by Tory MPs in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, and has received vociferous backing from The Daily Telegraph . It was supported by Johnson after he became PM, and given the go-ahead in May. The Government said it would be used to host trade fairs, ministerial meetings and diplomatic summits. The vessel would be crewed by the Royal Navy, and is expected to be in service for about 30 years.

Why wasn’t the last one renewed?

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The Royal Yacht Britannia was in service from 1954 until 1997, a period during which it travelled more than a million nautical miles across the globe. But in 1994, the Government announced its retirement, citing the estimated £17m cost of completing a major re-fit (just seven years after the last one), which would only prolong its life by five years. In January 1997, the Conservatives promised to replace the yacht if re-elected that year, but Tony Blair’s victory spelt the end of the plan. His Labour government declined to spend public money on renewing it, citing the fact that the Queen had “made clear” that a yacht wasn’t needed for royal travel. Today, the ship is a tourist attraction in Leith, Edinburgh, with some 300,000 visitors a year.

What would a new one be like?

The details have yet to be fleshed out: the tendering process for design and construction began in July. However, the brief is to deliver “a vessel which reflects British design expertise and the latest innovations in green technology”. (Wallace said that it might have hybrid engines, or even a sail, like some modern superyachts.) The intention is to start building next year in a British shipyard, to create jobs and “help drive a renaissance in the UK’s shipbuilding industry”; at present, Britain has many top yacht designers and a thriving leisure boat industry, but most superyachts are built abroad. The yacht will have a “national security function”, too; Britannia was designed to double as a hospital ship. The ship’s name has yet to be announced: it was reported that the PM wanted to name it after the Duke of Edinburgh in tribute, but that the proposal was greeted with coolness in royal circles.

What’s the point of it?

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Advocates of the ship say it will glide gracefully into ports around the world, where it will be used to wine and dine officials, thereby smoothing the way for trade deals, defence agreements and the like. They cite the example of Britannia, which they say helped bring in an estimated £3bn of trade deals between 1991 and 1995. “The world’s top investors will fall over themselves to visit a new flagship for a new type of commercial diplomacy,” said Johnson. A report last year by the think tank the Henry Jackson Society said the yacht could help “project Britain’s image around the world”; Lord Digby Jones, the former head of the CBI, said it would give the nation a “morale boost” after the pandemic.

Is everybody convinced?

No. Labour leader Keir Starmer labelled it a “vanity yacht” and called on the PM to spend the money tackling antisocial behaviour instead; the former Tory minister Ken Clarke called it “silly populist nonsense”. Many commentators are scathing. “I don’t think the world’s most successful exporting nations – Germany, Japan, China – ever needed a floating gin palace to get the world to buy their cars, steel or smartphones,” said Sean O’Grady in The Independent : quality, price, innovation and reliability, he argued, were more important. The ship doesn’t even enjoy the backing of senior members of the royal family, The Sunday Times reported. “No one wants this vessel at the Palace,” said a royal source. Courtiers, it seems, do not want it to be presented as a new “royal yacht”, which is regarded as “too grand” a symbol for the modern monarchy. They would not use it for their personal travel or holidays – though Wallace hopes it would be used for royal visits, to “showcase the royal family as one of our exports”.

How would it be paid for?

When the idea was originally proposed, the cost was estimated at £100m and was to be covered by private donors, with no burden on the taxpayer. However, the Government has now confirmed that the ship would be paid for out of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) budget – despite insisting that it would be primarily “a trade ship”. The original invitation to tender in July put the budget at £150m. However, a week after that, it was raised to £200m-£250m. Hugo Andreae, editor of Motor Boat & Yachting , thinks that, knowing the economics of superyachts, the price will rise to around £600m – unless the national flagship is to risk being “overshadowed by a tasteless megayacht belonging to some shady despot”.

Will it actually be built?

The project reportedly drew ire from the MoD, where officials asked No. 10 what they could scrap to pay for it. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is also said to be reluctant to pay for it. Johnson , however – a fan of statement projects – is said to “love the plan”. And Wallace is on board, too. He argues that the cost is a fraction of the MoD’s £42bn annual budget, and has dismissed criticism as “basket-weaving, leftie, Islington nonsense”. He insists construction will begin as soon as next year, and it will be “in the water by 2024 or 2025”.

Britannia: the original national flagship

The Royal Yacht Britannia was a symbol of British prestige, said the FT – a “glamorous nod to a lost age of naval superiority and to a different era of deference”. Built in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, it was used for a combination of “glittering state visits, official receptions, royal honeymoons and relaxing family holidays”, according to its official website.

The ship’s first official engagement was to carry Prince Charles and Princess Anne to Malta in 1954, where they met their parents at the end of a Commonwealth tour. It was the first of 968 state voyages that the ship carried out over its 44 years of service, during which every conceivable effort was made to ensure it was as comfortable and tranquil as possible for the royals: the crew wore soft-soled plimsolls and communicated using hand signals to reduce noise. An on-board garage housed the Queen’s Rolls-Royce and a 26-strong Royal Marines band was stationed on the ship at all times.

People visiting it in Leith today will see that every clock on board has been stopped at 3.01pm – the time the Queen last disembarked following the ship’s 1997 decommissioning ceremony in Portsmouth. The Queen is said to have been at her happiest on the ship, and at that event, she famously shed a tear.

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Flagship royal yacht scrapped as government spending cuts loom in autumn statement

Ben Wallace told the Commons he has terminated the competition to build the £200m vessel ahead of the 17 November statement from the chancellor.

Political reporter @NifS

Monday 7 November 2022 18:19, UK

A contentious plan to build a new royal yacht has been scrapped, the defence secretary has confirmed.

The successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was expected to cost around £200m, was announced by Boris Johnson in May 2021 .

Mr Johnson, the prime minister at the time, said it would reflect "the UK's burgeoning status as a great, independent maritime trading nation" after Brexit.

The flagship was going to be named after the late Duke of Edinburgh , and used to host trade fairs, ministerial summits and diplomatic talks as the UK sought to build links and boost exports.

Speaking in the Commons today, Ben Wallace, whose department was due to fund the project , told MPs he was prioritising the procurement of the multirole ocean surveillance ship (MROSS) instead and had cancelled the competition to build the boat.

"In the face of the Russian illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and Putin's reckless disregard of international arrangements designed to keep world order, it is right that we prioritise delivering capabilities which safeguard our national infrastructure," he said.

The building of the multimillion-pound vessel had been heavily criticised by MPs and peers over whether it was value for money, especially after the public purse had been squeezed during the pandemic.

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Last year, the Commons Defence Committee warned there was "no evidence of the advantage to the Royal Navy of acquiring the national flagship" and that the price tag, as well as running costs, would add to the pressure on the service.

Shadow defence secretary John Healey welcomed the scrapping of the "previous prime minister's vanity project" and that spending was being given to "purposes that will help defend the country".

Its cancellation comes ahead of an autumn statement on 17 November , in which Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, and Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor are expected to announce a raft of spending cuts to fill in the £60bn black hole in the public finances.

The pair have been tight-lipped about what other measures will be introduced, and whether commitments such as the pensions triple lock will be kept in place.

Both have promised the announcements will be "compassionate" to those most in need.

Asked about the prime minister's perspective of scrapping the boat, Mr Sunak's official spokesman said he "thinks it is right to prioritise at a time when difficult spending decisions need to be made" and "finances are tight".

Mr Wallace told MPs he would hold talks with Mr Sunak and Mr Hunt this week in an attempt to secure funding to "protect our armed forces and our current plans from inflation" in the upcoming statement.

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Royal yacht: Why Britannia will definitely cost more than £200m to build

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Boris Johnson has confirmed that there is to be a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia using new green technology.

The surprise announcement came in a statement from 10 Downing Street at the end of May. Rather than purely serving the British Royal Family, however, this new vessel will be a national ship rather than a private yacht – a floating embassy that will be operated by the Royal Navy.

The idea is that the new royal yacht will support working royals and government departments alike, while furthering the nation’s interests abroad, both commercial and strategic.

“Every aspect of this ship, from its build to the businesses it showcases, will represent and promote the best of British,” said Johnson, “a clear and powerful symbol of our commitment to be an active player on the world stage. It will be the first vessel of its kind in the world.”

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Following appropriate consultations with the Royal Family, the Royal Navy, Ministry of Defence, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Treasury, the Government will put the design and construction out to tender. If all goes to plan the build could start as early as next year with a view to entering service by 2024.

Some critics had suggested that World Trade Organisation obligations would mean the tendering process would have to be open to overseas yards as well as British ones, but the fact it will be operated by the Royal Navy gives it ‘warship’ status and therefore renders her exempt.

Various sources have quoted ballpark figures of £200 million to build the new Royal Yacht Britannia but once a working specification has been drawn up for a suitably large yacht MBY expects this to rise considerably.

Superyacht designer Andrew Winch’s proposal was for a much larger craft

Everything will depend on how much space is needed for conferencing and entertainment areas as well as the number of staterooms, guest cabins and crew, not to mention helicopter and tenders, and the high levels of security needed to protect her passengers and guests.

How much will the new royal yacht cost?

So exactly how big will the new yacht be? Length is not the key metric for superyachts ; usable volume measured in gross tonnage is the name of the game.

£200 million sounds a lot and could buy an impressive 280ft (86m) quad-deck superyacht with a volume of around 2,500GT from a superyacht yard, but a ship of that length is unlikely to be big enough.

The old Britannia measured 421ft and 5,769GT. The Royal Navy is unlikely to spend less than £100,000 per tonne today for such a vessel and will probably end up spending a significant amount more given that this would be a full-custom project. We suspect the final bill for New Britannia is likely to be more like £600 million.

The New Flagship Company also produced this rendering to try and win private backing for a Britannia replacement

This isn’t the first time a new royal yacht has been mooted. Businessman Ian Maiden launched the New Flagship Company in 2001 to try and garner private backing for a similar national ship to promote the UK and Commonwealth’s business interests. Superyacht designer Andrew Winch also drafted plans for a new royal megayacht.

As far as we know neither of these designs have been adopted by Number 10, which released its own uncredited rendering of what the new Royal Yacht Britannia might look like . One man that has had a bigger hand than most is Craig Mackinlay, Conservative MP for South Thanet, who recently led a cross-party campaign supported by no fewer than 70 MPs.

Mackinlay is a lifelong sailor and the commodore of the House of Commons Yacht Club, and his most recent submission seems to have influenced the government’s statement. Some have suggested that an alternative to a brand-new yacht could be a keel-up rebuild of the old Royal Yacht Britannia , which is now lying alongside in Leith, Edinburgh.

Winch’s design was first proposed in 2016

She was formally retired in 1997 after 44 years of service and over 1 million nautical miles. Until recently she has been open to the public. Any new Royal Yacht Britannia is expected to have a service life of at least 30 years.

The expert view

“The debate about how or even whether to replace the Royal Yacht Britannia has been gong on for as long as I’ve been editor and seems to crop up every few years when there’s no real news to talk about,” says MBY editor Hugo Andreae.

“But this time it’s different, this time it’s government policy – at least until Boris changes his mind, which has been known to happen!

“I sincerely hope he doesn’t because a new Royal Yacht Britannia really could invigorate British ship building and cast fresh light on the amazing leisure boat industry we do still have.

“But if we’re going to do it, please don’t skimp on the budget. We don’t want Britannia being overshadowed by a tasteless megayacht belonging to some shady despot!”

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Plans for £250M national flagship scrapped by British Government

The British Government has scrapped plans to build a national flagship yacht estimated to cost up to £250 million.

Initial plans for the national flagship were introduced under Boris Johnson and the vessel was envisioned as a successor to the 126 metre Royal Yacht Britannia. The yacht was intended to host diplomatic events and trade fairs but plans were heavily criticised as a "vanity project".

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told MPs that the national flagship scheme is now suspended and that the Ministry of Defence would be commissioning the build of two multi-role ocean surveillance (MROS) ships instead to "protect the UK’s critical national infrastructure" following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Wallace said: "In the face of Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and Putin’s reckless disregard of international arrangements designed to keep world order, it is right that we prioritise delivering capabilities which safeguard our national infrastructure."

The tendering process for the design and construction of the ship was already underway and has now been suspended.

Rear Admiral Rex Cox, CEO of the National Shipbuilding Office said: "The National Flagship project showcased the talent of the UK’s maritime industry and I am grateful to all those bidders who took part. The willingness to embrace modern design and production practices with a focus on green innovation embodies the essence of the National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh. This contemporary approach to shipbuilding and design will be fundamental to the success of the future shipbuilding pipeline."

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A multi-million pound Royal Yacht replacement has been confirmed and people aren’t happy

Her Majesty's Ship the royal yacht Britannia in Hong Kong before it was decommissioned in 1997

After reports circulated of a new ship to replace the now decommissioned Royal Yacht Britannia earlier this year - including to name it after the late Duke of Edinburgh - the new “national flagship ” has actually been given the go-ahead by the prime minister .

The vessel, which was previously estimated to cost up to £200 million, will look to “boost British trade and drive investment” into the UK economy by hosting trade shows negotiations.

“This new national flagship will be the first vessel of its kind in the world, reflecting the UK’s burgeoning status as a great, independent maritime trading nation.

“Every aspect of the ship, from its build to the businesses it showcases on board, will represent and promote the best of British,” the prime minister said in a statement .

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In April, several Tory MPs proposed a new royal yacht in memory of Prince Philip, after the royal passed away aged 99.

However, a senior royal source told The Sunday Times that it was considered “too grand” a symbol for the monarchy, adding that “it is not something we have asked for”.

Now that the plans have officially been confirmed, it appears as though many members of the public share that sentiment, suggesting other areas where the money could be spent:

Oh look everyone is talking about a Royal yacht and a secret wedding in the Sunday papers and not wallpaper, Matt H… https://t.co/JBRkaFYqsm — John Russell (@John Russell) 1622355425

I don’t see how it’s a royal yacht if the Palace doesn’t approve it. It seems a remarkably old-fashioned, environme… https://t.co/Ru6wryXWHe — Chris Bryant (@Chris Bryant) 1622359888

The new Royal Yacht matters. It demonstrates clearly once again that Johnson does not have a single original idea i… https://t.co/fP4Wb5ZocH — Otto English (@Otto English) 1622362523

Yesterday I walked past a long queue of people waiting for a food bank but today I am told there is £200 million fo… https://t.co/mzgzJJQJyM — Martin O'Neill (@Martin O'Neill) 1622362718

UK government slashes the overseas aid budget, which actually does boost trade and the country's "soft power", to s… https://t.co/ybCmUlGeCz — Daniel Sohege 🧡 (@Daniel Sohege 🧡) 1622357655

The ship, which will be manned by the Royal Navy, is expected to be in service for around 30 years once it sets sail, which Downing Street says will be “within the next four years”.

Construction of the ship, meanwhile, could begin “as soon as next year”.

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clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

What really happened to Royal Yacht Britannia from ‘The Crown’ Season 5?

LONDON — The much-hyped fifth season of “The Crown” opens with a heavy-handed metaphor weighing approximately 4,000 tons.

It’s 1953, and a young Queen Elizabeth II, a month before her coronation, is in Scotland to launch the new royal yacht, the Britannia. “I hope this brand-new vessel, like your brand-new queen, will prove to be dependable and constant, capable of weathering any storm,” she declares to great applause.

And so the queen and her ship are inextricably linked as the Netflix TV show fast-forwards to 1991, when questions about costly repairs for the Britannia are presented in parallel to questions about whether the 65-year-old queen is too old for her role.

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There is no missing that this is a narrative device in a series now labeled a “fictional dramatization.” But the episode’s release this week has renewed interest in the history of the royal yacht and ignited a debate about how the British monarch interacted with her government. It also happened to coincide with a modern-day echo of 1991, as new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, facing a recession, sank plans for a replacement royal yacht.

What to know about Britannia, ‘the floating palace’

There is a real Royal Yacht Britannia, and, as in the show, the young queen really did announce its name and christen it with a bottle of Empire wine. (Though not with a self-referential speech.)

The Britannia was the latest in a series of royal yachts dating back to 1660 and King Charles II . In 44 years of service, the ship sailed more than 1 million nautical miles — equivalent to more than 40 circumnavigations of Earth — calling at more than 600 ports in 135 countries and projecting British influence around the world.

The Britannia was used for state visits and receptions, royal family holidays and honeymoons. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton all spent time on board, as did Boris Yeltsin and Nelson Mandela. When civil war broke out in South Yemen in 1986, the yacht was rerouted to help evacuate civilians.

“The Crown” suggests the yacht was the queen’s favorite “home,” cherished even more than Balmoral in the Scottish highlands. Biographers don’t dispute that this could have been true. In his book “Queen of Our Times,” Robert Hardman writes, “There were few places where the Queen would be happier.”

Although served by a crew of 220, the ship was a place where the royal family could relax and escape the watchful eye of the public. Hugh Casson, who designed the interior, once recounted, “the overall idea was to give the impression of a country house at sea.” Prince Philip, the queen’s husband, was fascinated with the birds he saw during voyages in the 1950s and even published a book titled “Birds from Britannia.”

Did the queen lobby for repairs?

The controversial part of “The Crown” portrayal centers on whether the queen actively lobbied Prime Minister John Major for the government to pay for extensive repairs — which could have amounted to inappropriate interference in politics by a constitutional monarch.

She says in the show: “Here I am, coming to you, prime minister, on bended knee, for the sign-off, but I’m hoping that will be a formality.”

The character of Major, who was prime minister during a tough recession, responds by suggesting the royal yacht is “something of a luxury” and that spending public money on it while the economy is in the tank would not be good for the government or the royal family.

The queen persists, arguing that the yacht is “a central and indispensable part of the way the crown serves the nation” and “a floating, seagoing expression of me.”

The queen-ship metaphor is dragged out in a later conversation, when the character of Prince Charles — impatient to be king — tells Major about the Britannia: “Sometimes these old things are too costly to keep repairing.”

So did any of that actually take place?

The real-life Major has called the show’s imagined conversations “a barrel-load of nonsense.”

Robert Lacey, a historical consultant on “The Crown,” defended the depiction. He told The Washington Post that the subject of the yacht would have inevitably come up between the queen and the prime minister, who met once a week to discuss matters of state.

“She certainly spoke about it to the prime minister,” Lacey said. “Obviously, the royal family would have lobbied for it. The queen did want another royal yacht.”

Hardman, the royal biographer, insisted that while the queen no doubt would have been interested in repairs or a replacement, she would not have “leaned on her prime ministers for money.”

In a letter written in 1994, later stored in the National Archives, the queen’s deputy private secretary Kenneth Scott wrote to the cabinet office that “the Queen would naturally very much welcome it if a way could be found of making available for the nation in the 21st century the kind of service which Britannia has provided for the last 43 years.”

Scott noted, however, that “the question of whether there should be a replacement yacht is very much one for the government” and “the last thing I should like to see is a newspaper headline saying ‘Queen Demands New Yacht.’”

The Times of London headline when the letter was uncovered in 2018: “ I want a new yacht, Queen told Whitehall in secret letter .”

What happened to the Britannia?

Major’s government wasn’t swayed by arguments to repair or renew the ship. Even with a retrofit costing an estimated 17 million pounds, the Britannia would be expensive to run and hard to maintain. It was hard to justify when air travel was a readily available alternative for royal trips and trade missions.

The yacht’s final voyage abroad was to Hong Kong in 1997, when the territory was handed back to China. A few months later, the Britannia undertook a farewell tour of Britain, calling at six major ports and blasting its sirens as it passed the shipyard that built it, before returning for a decommissioning ceremony in Portsmouth, England on Dec. 11, 1997. The ship’s clocks were stopped. The Royal Marines band played. Lacey noted: “The only time the queen was seen to cry was when the royal yacht was de-commissioned.”

The ship is now a visitor attraction site in Edinburgh, Scotland. On the day of the queen’s state funeral in September, a lone piper played a lament on the deck.

What about plans for a replacement royal yacht?

The possibility of a replacement yacht gained some traction during the 1997 general election, but the incoming Labour government nixed the idea.

More than two decades later, as part of a campaign to promote a reinvigorated “Global Britain” in the aftermath of Brexit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson proposed a new royal yacht . There was a push to name the ship after Prince Philip, who died last year, though it would be more for the government than for the royal family. In Johnson’s vision, the ship would tour the world as a “floating embassy,” where officials would host summits and cement trade deals. It would cost an estimated 250 million pounds to build, plus 30 million pounds a year to run.

But once again, the economic climate is not favorable for big yacht projects. The new Sunak administration announced this week that it was terminating the royal yacht plan and would instead procure a surveillance ship that could protect energy cables and other infrastructure. The prime minister’s spokesman said it was “right to prioritize at a time when difficult spending decisions need to be made.”

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What Happened to the Royal Yacht Britannia?

By Elise Taylor

The Crown season five begins and ends with the same plot point: The Royal Yacht Britannia. The vessel serves as a—fairly obvious—metaphor in the first episode, where Imelda Staunton’s Queen Elizabeth describes it as “a floating, seagoing version of me.” The problem with her metaphorical marine self? It’s in desperate need of multi-million dollar repairs. 

She asks British prime minister John Major, played by Jonny Lee Miller, whether the government might be able to help foot the bill. He, in turn, asks if the royal family might front the cost, given the public pushback they both might receive if such a seemingly extravagant project was approved. In the final episode of the season (a note to the reader: spoilers will follow), Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth agree to decommission the yacht after Prince Charles’s trip to Hong Kong.

The Crown is known for taking much of its plot material from real-life events. In the case of the Royal Yacht Britannia, though—what really happened to the boat, and how much political controversy did it really cause?

To go back to the beginning, King George VI first commissioned the royal yacht that would become the Britannia in 1952. It was an exciting project, as the previous official boat had belonged to Queen Victoria, and was rarely used. (Queen Victoria, for one, did not like the water and never sailed.) Then, during the early 20th century, England was mostly at war, and making a massive, slow-sailing luxury ship would be a massive security risk in international waters. 

The Royal Yacht Britannia, George decided, should both be an extravagant vessel and a functional one, able to double as a hospital if times of war were to arise again. In 1953, the newly-crowned Queen Elizabeth christened the ship with a bottle of wine, as champagne was still seen as too extravagant post-war. In 1954, she set sail for the first time.

The Royal Yacht fulfilled many functions, most of them leisurely. Over the years, the boat hosted four royal honeymoons, including that of Princess Diana and Prince Charles, as well as many family vacations. In 1969, after his investiture as the Prince of Wales, Charles hosted an intimate party on board to celebrate. (Newspapers at the time wrote that he danced with his dear friend Lucia Santa Cruz —the very person who eventually introduced him to Camilla Parker Bowles.)

It also served as a grandiose mode of transport for many royal visits. In 1959, for example, Britannia sailed to Chicago to celebrate the recently-opened St. Lawrence seaway in Canada, and President Eisenhower joined her on board. Twenty years later, she sailed to Abu Dhabi for her first official visit to the United Arab Emirates, where she held a grand dinner for Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

And although Queen Elizabeth's reign was not during wartime, the royal yacht did execute a humanitarian mission, as King George VI had always planned for: In 1986, it sailed to Aden to evacuate over 1,000 refugees from the civil war in Yemen.

The New York Times once described the 412-foot Britannia as “an ordinary yacht what Buckingham Palace is to the house next door.” It wasn’t an exaggeration—Britannia was essentially a floating palace. It had a drawing room, a dining room, two sitting rooms, as well as galleys and cabins for all the officers. The stateroom interiors were just as ornate as any other royal estate, while the bedrooms—which all had their own bathrooms and dressing rooms—were designed to feel surprisingly personal. 

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“Within the royal apartments, however, the regal elegance gives way to the homey, patched elbow chic of an English country house, with flowered chintz slipcovers, family photographs, and rattan settees, interspersed with the occasional relic of Empire—shark's teeth from the Solomon Islands here, a golden urn commemorating Nelson's victory at Trafalgar there,” the New York Times found when it boarded the ship in 1976.

The cost of running Britannia was always an issue. Politicians raised questions about its financial value as far back as 1954, when two MPs lobbied for an investigation on why the yacht’s refurbishment would cost 5.8 million pounds, accusing the royal family of waste and extravagance. A government committee later dismissed the accusations. In 1994, the Conservative government ruled the yacht too costly to refurbish, when repairs came in at a whopping 17 million, but then briefly walked back on their decision a few years later. 

However, when Tony Blair’s Labour government won the election, and the new government once again declined to pay for Britannia. Britannia’s final journey was to far-flung Hong Kong in 1997, as Prince Charles turned over the British colony back to the Chinese at the end of Britain's 99-year lease. When they finally decommissioned the boat that summer, the queen cried—one of the few times she’s shown emotion in public. The boat had logged over one million nautical miles.

Today, Britannia sits permanently docked in Edinburgh. Visitors can take tours of its grand galleys, or even rent it out for events. Yet, despite its retirement, the concept of the royal yacht lives on: In 2021, Boris Johnson floated the idea of a new boat. However, a mere eight days ago, Rishi Sunak has scrapped the project—showing that, even now, the concept remains a controversial one.

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