Image copyright Fox Photos/Getty Image caption The Royal Yacht Britannia is followed by HMS Vanguard as it is escorted to the River Thames, near Plymouth, 1954 The 83rd royal yacht's time in service began very soon after the Queen's reign began, as it was commissioned only a few days after the death of her father in 1952. Thousands came to watch when the young Queen launched the yacht the following year, from the John Brown & Company shipyard on a gloomy day in Clydebank. "Special buses had brought from all parts of the county 5,000 children, who waited in the rain to cheer the Queen," the Times reported. That pattern was repeated on a larger scale as the yacht travelled around the Commonwealth and to other European countries, taking Princess Margaret, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen on trips to the Caribbean, Australia and Canada.
Image copyright Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Image caption The Royal Family aboard at the Port of Southampton in 1958 Britannia went on to undertake 968 official visits, including the handover of Hong Kong, and received guests including Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and four US presidents. The yacht, 412ft with a crew of 240, was a kind of floating palace, including a state drawing room, a state dining room and the Queen's sitting room as well as numerous bedrooms. It was also seen as an asset in Britain's efforts to forge diplomatic and trade links, particularly when it came to what was known as "British invisibles" - exports such as shipping and
1/3
insurance. The Queen is reputed to have a strong attachment to Britannia, once describing it as "a place where I can truly relax" and appearing emotional at its decommissioning ceremony.
Why was it taken out of service?
Image copyright AFP Image caption Lord West says trade deals were signed on Britannia when he sailed it to Hong Kong in 1997 Almost as soon as the yacht was decommissioned in 1997, people began to call for its return, with strongly worded letters written to newspapers, and MPs repeatedly raising the issue in Parliament. The question of the yacht's future resurfaced prominently at the time of the Diamond Jubilee, in 2012. Former cabinet minister Michael Gove wrote to then Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, saying: "In spite and perhaps because of the austere times, the celebration should go beyond those of previous jubilees," and proposing "a gift from the nation" in the form of a royal yacht. He was mocked at the time by opponents, with Labour calling him "out of touch". But now the proposal is front-page news again. Conservative MP Jake Berry is leading calls for a revival of the royal yacht, telling the Sun: "it could bring in billions of pounds' worth of trade deals for post-Brexit Britain." Former head of the navy and Labour peer Lord West of Spithead would also like to see it make a comeback. He told the BBC: "It was a terrible shame we got rid of it, especially since her majesty was so fond of it." He was on the vessel when it sailed to Hong Kong as part of the 1997 handover process, and said: "There were lots of deals signed on it, and it would certainly be useful as we try to carve out new trade deals after Brexit."
2/3
But Deirdre Brock, the SNP MP for Edinburgh Leith, where the vessel currently resides, said: "While it's an incredibly successful tourist attraction, it's a museum piece, and the calls to revive it or replace it seem to be harking back to the days of empire." And Jonathan Reynolds, a Labour MP who sits on the Business Select Committee, said: "If that's their answer to the serious economic questions we're facing after Brexit, it's very worrying".
How likely is it?
3/3 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)