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List of royal yachts of the United Kingdom

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There have been 83 royal yachts of the monarchy of the United Kingdom since the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.[1]

Charles II had 25 royal yachts,[2] while five were simultaneously in service in 1831.[3]

Merchantmen or warships have occasionally been chartered or assigned for special duty as a temporary royal yacht, for example the steamship Ophir in 1901 and the battleship HMS Vanguard in 1947.[citation needed]

Since 1998, following a successful national tender process, Britannia has been berthed permanently at the Port of Leith in Edinburgh.[1] There are currently no British royal yachts, although MV Hebridean Princess and MY Leander G have both been used by the royal family.[4][5]

Kingdom of England

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Data about launch years from Royal Yachts of the World (1997) by Tim Madge[6]

Kingdom of Great Britain

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United Kingdom

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Potential new yacht

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In 2021 the UK government announced plans for a new 'ship of state' to be managed jointly between the Ministry of Defence, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Department for International Trade. The plan for the ship is to "host trade fairs, ministerial summits and diplomatic talks", fulfilling functions in a similar capacity to previous Royal Yachts. The ship would be crewed by the Royal Navy. The cost was placed at between £200M and £250M. Some reports suggested the yacht would be named after the late Duke of Edinburgh. By late 2022 some reports suggested that the UK government might not proceed with the new yacht.[8][9][10][11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "The Royal Residence". The Royal Yacht Britannia Edinburgh. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  2. ^ "All at sea with Charles II". University of Southampton. 27 April 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  3. ^ Madge 1997, p. 183.
  4. ^ Witchell, Nicholas (23 July 2010). "Queen heads off on Hebridean adventure". BBC News.
  5. ^ Wilson, Sophia (1 June 2022). "Leander G: On board the classic yacht favoured by British royalty". Boat International. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  6. ^ Madge 1997, pp. 182–183.
  7. ^ "40-year-old Ship Makes Last Trip; Empress of Australia, Luxury Liner and Troop Carrier, on Way to Scrap Heap". The New York Times. 1 May 1952. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012.
  8. ^ Heffer, Greg (29 July 2021). "Boris Johnson told to scrap 'vanity' project after admission new national yacht could cost £250m". Sky News. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  9. ^ "Boris Johnson plans to sink £200m into new ship of state". The Guardian. Press Association. 30 May 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  10. ^ Forrest, Adam (28 July 2021). "Boris Johnson says £250m royal yacht will let UK 'show itself off'". The Independent. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  11. ^ Nelson, Nigel (22 October 2022). "Chancellor Jeremy Hunt plans to scrap Boris Johnson's 'vanity' £250m yacht". The Mirror. Retrieved 29 October 2022.

Sources

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Further reading

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