The Queen’s courtiers may be forced to appeal to the Royal Navy to help bolster her diamond jubilee celebrations.
She plans to sail down the Thames next year like a latter-day Britannia at the head of a flotilla of more than 100 boats, but fears have been expressed that the Royal Navy may be unable to spare a vessel because of the cuts in defence spending.
It is hoped the “float past” will include famous boats from her 60-year reign, such as Sir Francis Chichester’s yacht Gipsy Moth IV, in which he sailed single-handed around the world, as well as the boats of other record breakers such as Dame Ellen MacArthur and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.
The pageant is intended to be the £8m highlight of a weekend of celebrations.
However, providing a vessel to carry the Queen has been problematic. The royal barge, the Royal Nore, has been ruled out because it is enclosed and the millions watching on the banks of the river or on television at home would be unable to see her.
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A plan by businessmen to build an open-decked royal river cruiser collapsed last year because of the recession. Now informal approaches have been made to the Navy to see what it can provide.
A well-informed source claims the Navy — fresh from rescuing Britons from Libya — has been “dragging its heels” because of the number of ships being decommissioned as a result of the Government’s spending review.
One naval commander said last week: “The monarch does not usually travel down the Thames in warships. She goes in a nice barge with fireworks and Handel’s music playing.”
More than 100 boats will take part in the flotilla on the afternoon of Sunday, June 3, next year when it sails — most likely from Hampton Court — and progresses downstream as far as Greenwich.
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The event is inspired by an historic river festival which, from the 1450s to the 1850s, saw the lord mayor of London sail from Blackfriars to Westminster, accompanied by a vast number of boats and barges.
One insider said: “It is perfectly possible there may have been formal soundings-out at an operational level to the Royal Navy, but no formal request has gone in to anybody yet about any boat.
“It is not only very possible, but it would be a preference to approach the Royal Navy at some point because this is a royal event. But to say it will not be involved because of Government cuts is hullabaloo.”
Nevertheless, the ebbing of Britain’s naval power will be palpable by comparison with the Queen’s review of the fleet at Spithead in her coronation year. And when Queen Victoria carried out her own diamond jubilee review of the fleet in 1897, there were 21 battleships and 56 cruisers present to emphasise the power of the Navy.
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Royal officials hope next year’s Thames event will be surrounded by enough pomp and circumstance to act as a trailer to the world for the London Olympics, which start just over seven weeks later.
Other highlights of the jubilee celebrations are likely to include “big lunch” street parties; a network of beacons across the country; and a service at St Paul’s Cathedral.
The Queen’s cousin Prince Michael of Kent, honorary admiral of the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships, may follow her on one of the tiny craft that helped to rescue British soldiers from the French beaches in 1940.
“This is without doubt a great idea and one in which the association would be very honoured to participate,” said its spokesman.
Vessels from the regions such as a Cornish lifeboat, a Scottish fishing smack and a Thames paddle steamer are also expected to sail, as well as boats with tableaux from many Commonwealth countries.
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The UK Sailing Academy, which has restored Gipsy Moth IV, said: “She would be fit to sail. The event seems wonderful and fitting for such an important occasion.”
The Queen knighted Sir Francis Chichester aboard the yacht on his return to Greenwich in 1967, using the sword with which Elizabeth I knighted Sir Francis Drake.
Lord Salisbury, the former Defence Minister and leader of the Lords, who is chairing the organising committee, said he hoped the river pageant would “become a launch pad for a greater legacy”.
The Ministry of Defence said: “We are not aware of any formal approach from the palace but I am sure, if there was a requirement for something like that and we took on the task, we would find a vessel to do it.
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Middletons’ inheritance
Kate Middleton’s parents are set to receive at least £100,000 tax free in an inheritance from her grandfather’s will.
Peter Middleton, Kate’s paternal grandfather who served as a second world war pilot, left an estate worth £647,758 to his four sons. He died last November, aged 90.
Kate’s father Michael will share in the estate, along with his brothers Nicholas, Simon and Richard, the eldest, who is named as executor.
Included in the estate is a £400,000 four-bedroom detached house in the village of Vernham Dean, in Andover, Hampshire. There are also family trusts that have been passed down.
The news will help the Middletons prepare for the royal wedding on April 29 — they have already offered to contribute to its cost.