HMY Britannia

Nice sunny day, but still a little cool. Today we visited "Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia", also known as the Royal Yacht Britannia.  It is the former royal yacht of the British monarchy. She was in service from 1954 until 1997.  During her 43-year career, the yacht travelled more than a million nautical miles around the world to more than 600 ports in 135 countries. Now retired from royal service, Britannia is permanently berthed at Ocean Terminal, Leith in Edinburgh.  It was kinda unusual locating the tour.  You entered the yacht from the second floor of a shopping mall. 

The yacht looks like a small cruise ship.  It is 412 ft long and has the capacity to hold 250 guests, 21 officers, and 250 Royal Yachtsmen.  U.S. presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton were all guests on the yacht. 

HMY Britannia

The bridge. 

The map room

Storing various signal flags


Land Rover for the King and Queen to use when they are docked


Holly and Charlie

The Queen's Bedroom

The King's bedroom

The Honeymoon suite

Formal Dining Room.

Sitting room


Sleeping quarters for the Royal Marines Band.  They were onboard whenever Britannia was on duty away from home port

Medical Room

Laundry room

Engine room driven by 2 steam turbines, 12,000 hp 

We asked about the possibility of another yacht being built.  They told us that proposals for the construction of a new royal yacht, perhaps financed through a loan or by the royal family's own funds, have made little headway. It was reported that the Chancellor was planning to scrap plans for a new yacht as part of a package of spending cuts.

We also visited the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh.  It was very pretty and very large, but it may have been a little early in the season to get the full experience, since most of the trees haven't received their leaves yet.















Comments

  1. ktrporterApril 28, 2023 at 6:06 PM

    I can't believe that yacht has its own medical suite!

    ReplyDelete

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