britannia cruise ship where is it now

P&O Cruises

• Year of built 2015
• Length (LOA) 329 m / 1079 ft
• Passengers 4406
• Destination Rotterdam
• ETA April 6, 02:30
• Temperature

• Main page Main page
• AIDA Cruises
• Carnival Cruise Line
• Costa Cruises
• Cunard Cruises
• Holland America Line
• MSC Cruises
• NCL Cruises
• Phoenix Reisen
• Princess Cruises
• P&O Cruises
• Royal Caribbean
• TUI Cruises
• All Cruise Lines
• Caribbean Princess
• Carnival Magic
• Celebrity Solstice
• Harmony of the Seas
• Independence of the Seas
• MSC Meraviglia
• Norwegian Epic
• Ovation of the Seas
• Queen Mary 2
• Alaska Cruises
• Australia Cruises
• Bahamas Cruises
• Baltic Sea Cruises
• Caribbean Cruises
• Cuba Cruises
• European Cruises
• Hawaii Cruises
• Mediterranean Cruises
• Miami Cruises
• New York Cruises
• Norway Cruises
• World Cruises
• View All Cruises
• All Inclusive Cruises
• Cheap Cruises
• Cruise Holidays
• Expedition Cruises
• Family Cruises
• Last Minute Cruises
• Luxury Cruises
• Fly Cruises
• Mini Cruises
• Singles Cruises
• Christmas Cruises
• New Year Cruises
• TOP Cruise Deals
• Ship finder
• Position Britannia

Current position Britannia

3647 Passengers

• Ship information/Review
• Current position

Data according to itinerary:

Show similar cruises.

• Terms & Conditions
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• Privacy Policy
• Whistleblower

Passenger (Cruise) Ship, IMO 9614036

• VesselFinder
• Miscellaneous

The current position of BRITANNIA is at North Sea reported 2 mins ago by AIS. The vessel is en route to the port of Rotterdam, Netherlands , and expected to arrive there on Apr 6, 02:30 . The vessel BRITANNIA (IMO 9614036, MMSI 235106595) is a Passenger (Cruise) Ship built in 2015 (9 years old) and currently sailing under the flag of United Kingdom (UK) .

Position & Voyage Data

Map position & weather, recent port calls, vessel utilization, vessel particulars, similar vessels, related news.

BRITANNIA current position and history of port calls are received by AIS. Technical specifications, tonnages and management details are derived from VesselFinder database. The data is for informational purposes only and VesselFinder is not responsible for the accuracy and reliability of BRITANNIA data.

• Track A Ship
• View Ship Traffic In A Port
• World Map Of Port Locations

Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.

Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.

• Guest Register If you are reading this it means you have not yet registered. Please take a second to REGISTER (it's FREE). You will then be able to enjoy all the features of Cruising Earth .
• Ship Tracking
• P&O Cruises (UK)

Track Britannia Current Position / Location - Britannia Cruise Ship Tracker - P&O Cruises (UK) - Cruising Earth

Britannia - cruise ship tracker.

Cruise Ship Details & Statistics

Track britannia's current position in this live cruise ship tracker.

Britannia is a Britannia Class cruise ship currently operated by P&O Cruises (UK). The ship has been in active service for 9 years. View Britannia's current position, recent track, speed, course, next port destination, estimated time of arrival (ETA) and more in the cruise ship tracker map below.

Track Another Ship

If you know another ship you want to track, enter the ship name or ship line name in the search box below. Then select the ship from the available search results.

Track Cruise Ships , Cruise Ferries , Research Ships , Military Ships and Famous Ships right here live on Cruising Earth !

• Cruise / Passenger
• Military / Special
• Navigation Aids

Get the latest current and forecast weather information that may affect your cruise vacation travel plans.

It looks like you may be utilizing ad blocking software or another ad filtering technology while visiting Cruising Earth. Certain areas of this site may not work properly because of this, particularly live updates of ship trackers and webcams.

We work hard to strike a balance between content and ads and as a free site we greatly appreciate your support in permitting ads to render. Ads help us cover our server and maintenance costs, which helps us continue to keep this site free to use. You also don't want to miss out on any specials or discounts posted from the Cruise & Travel Industry! For the best site experience please disable your ad blockers for cruisingearth.com, then click the button below. Thank you.

Location of Cruise Ships

Where are the cruise ships now.

The following list is showing the scheduled location of all cruise ships. Please click on the ship name to see the current ships position in a map and additional information.

Sign up for the best deals!

Sign up and we'll send you the best deals to your inbox - 100% FREE.

Latest price updates

BRITANNIA LIVE MAP Current Position | FleetMon

What is the current position of britannia right now ship britannia is a passenger ship waving the flag of united kingdom. vessel's imo number is 9614036, mmsi number is 235106595. the ship is 329 m long and having a beam of 45 m. live maps hereinunder show present location, next port of call, estimated (eta) and prediced time of arrival (pta), speed, course, draught, photos, videos, local time, utc time..

20 emails/day

Send 0 emails out of 20 today

Full Screen

Refresh Map

SHOW CRUISES

•   Home
• Terms of Use

MARINE VESSEL TRAFFIC

CORONAVIRUS SHIPS

PLANS & PRICES

FLEET ANALYSES Coming soon

BRITANNIA Passenger (Cruise) Ship, IMO 9614036

Where is the current position of britannia presently vessel britannia is a passenger (cruise) ship sailing under the flag of united kingdom . her imo number is 9614036 and mmsi number is 235106595. main ship particulars are length of 329 m and beam of 45 m. maps show the following voyage data - present location, next port, estimated (eta) and predicted time of arrival (pta), speed, course, draught, photos, videos, local time, utc time. book a cruise, schedules, vacation, deckplans, reviews..

20 emails/day

Send 0 emails out of 20 today

Full Screen

Add to Fleet

SHOW CRUISES

Open this map on your mobile by scanning a QR code

Open this map on your mobile by scanning the QR code image with your camera

BRITANNIA current position is received by AIS. Ship info reports, fleet analysis, company analyses, address analyses, technical specifications, tonnages, management details, addresses, classification society data and all other relevant statistics are derived from Marine Vessel Traffic database. The data is for informational purposes only and Marine Vessel Traffic is not responsible for the accuracy and reliability of data reported above herein.

BRITANNIA CURRENT POSITION ( - DUAL TRACKING - )

Track ais and satellite current location, next port, eta, imo, mmsi, speed, course, draught, photo.

20 emails/day

Send 0 emails out of 20 today

 OPTIONS 

 TOOLS

• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use

Where Is the Britannia Cruise Ship Now?

By Robert Palmer

The Britannia Cruise Ship is one of the most iconic vessels in modern times. It was originally built in 1997, and has served as a luxury liner for more than two decades. It has hosted some of the most famous celebrities and dignitaries from around the world, and has served as a popular destination for many cruises.

The Britannia Cruise Ship is operated by P&O Cruises, a British-based company that specializes in providing luxury oceanic experiences to its passengers. The ship itself is one of the largest cruise ships ever built, measuring 1,082 feet long and weighing up to 130,000 tons. It can hold up to 3,600 passengers and crew members at once.

The interiors of the ship are lavish and extravagant, with several luxurious restaurants and bars spread throughout its multiple decks.

Since its launch in 1997, the Britannia Cruise Ship has been on dozens of cruises around the world. It has visited various destinations such as Australia, Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Some of its most popular voyages include a Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona to Venice; an Arabian Gulf cruise from Dubai to Abu Dhabi; and a South American cruise from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro.

The Britannia Cruise Ship is currently docked at Southampton Port in England awaiting its next voyage. In 2020 it will embark on a journey that will take it around Europe including ports such as Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Lisbon among others. It will also be making stops in various Caribbean islands such as Barbados and St Maarten before returning back to Southampton in October 2020.

Conclusion:

The Britannia Cruise Ship is currently docked at Southampton Port in England awaiting its next voyage in 2020 which will take it around Europe including ports such as Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Lisbon among others before returning back to Southampton in October 2020.

8 Related Question Answers Found

Where is cruise ship britannia now, where is britannia cruise ship today, where is the cruise ship britannia today, where is the cruise ship britannia at the moment, where is the monarch cruise ship now, where is the queen victoria cruise ship now, where is queen victoria cruise ship now, where is the regal princess cruise ship now, backpacking - budget travel - business travel - cruise ship - vacation - tourism - resort - cruise - road trip - destination wedding - tourist destination - best places, london - madrid - paris - prague - dubai - barcelona - rome.

© 2024 LuxuryTraveldiva

All information about Britannia. 2024, 2025 and 2026 itinerary of this ships. Technical data, rating and reviews of tourists. The actual location of the vessel.

Specifications of Britannia

Current position.

Britannia Itinerary

Britannia Cruises

Britannia rating.

Full information about the rating of all cruise ships is available on the page: Ships Rating .

Britannia in the News

• Apr 18, 2024 P&O UK unveils summer 2026 cruises with early booking discount P&O Cruises UK has unveiled its summer 2026 program, accompanied by an enticing early-bird bo...
• Oct 12, 2023 P&O UK's winter 2025-2026 cruise collection includes 12 new ports P&O Cruises UK is enhancing its offerings for the autumn half-term in 2025 with the aim of at...
• Sep 19, 2023 Cunard and P&O UK improve Wi-Fi connectivity with SpaceX's Starlink Carnival Corporation's UK-based subsidiaries Cunard Line and P&O Cruises UK have unveiled pla...
• Sep 18, 2023 Cunard and P&O Cruises boost on-board wifi  Cunard and P&O Cruises are improving wifi connectivity and bandwidth across the ...
• Aug 30, 2023 P&O UK's cruise passengers injured after Britannia ship crashes into an oil tanker in palma de Mallorca In a weather-related incident that occurred on Sunday, August 27th, P&O UK's Britannia ship m...
• Aug 28, 2023 VIDEO: P&O Britannia crashes into oil tanker amid Mallorca storm Amidst a powerful storm on Sunday morning (August 27th), the cruise ship Britannia, operated by P...
• Aug 12, 2023 Cunard Line partners with Two Michelin-starred Chef Michel Roux Cunard has revealed an exclusive collaboration with Michel Albert Roux (1960-born Michelin-starre...
• Aug 8, 2023 Princess Royal to open Scotland's Aberdeen South Harbour The Port of Aberdeen (Scotland) announced that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal will preside...
• Jul 30, 2023 Barbie joining P&O Cruises UK's ships Arvia and Iona for summer 2023 P&O Cruises UK has introduced dedicated family zones on its 5 family-friendly ships during th...
• May 13, 2023 Massive Cruise Port Traffic Backup Due to Security Checks One of Europe’s most popular cruise ports experienced massive traffic congestion and length...
• May 7, 2023 Saga UK's ship Spirit of Discovery hosts special Coronation celebrations Saga Cruises announced it was incredibly proud that Camilla, Queen Consort was the Godmother of i...
• Apr 21, 2023 P&O UK's summer 2025 itineraries include Britannia ship’s 10 year anniversary "British Isles Cruise" P&O Cruises UK has unveiled its new series of summer 2025 holidays, featuring fresh itinerari...
• Apr 20, 2023 P&O Cruises Reveals New Ports of Call Plus Ship Anniversary P&O Cruises, headquartered in Southampton, England, has just unveiled some of the detail...
• Mar 31, 2023 At least 3 dead, 13 missing after boat accident off St Kitts, P&O Britannia helping search A P&O UK liner with British tourists onboard is helping search for passengers of a boat that ...
• Mar 30, 2023 P&O Cruises Ship Assists With Rescue Efforts for Capsized Vessel The P&O Cruises ship Britannia has assisted with intensive rescue efforts near St. Kitts afte...

• SHIPS RATING
• PORTS RATING
• PORTS BUSIEST
• PORTS WEBCAMS
• CRUISE NEWS

The information presented on the website is collected from open sources. The editors of the website are not responsible for its accuracy and relevance.

The website cruisedata.info uses cookies (small text files into which the browser records data from the websites you visit) to a limited extent to improve user experience. You can change your browser settings if you do not wish to use cookies.

© 2015-2024 cruisedata.info

Terms and conditions | Privacy Policy | Contacts

Ship Specifications

City Bridgetown

City Southampton

City Castries

Britannia itineraries, 5 night western europe, 7 night norwegian fjords, 14 night scandinavia and baltic sea, 14 night british isles, 7 night spain and france, 14 night canary islands, 14 night mediterranean, 15 night caribbean, 14 night caribbean, p&o cruises fleet.

I visited the Royal Yacht Britannia, the royal family's luxurious private cruise ship known as a 'floating palace.' Take a look inside.

• The Royal Yacht Britannia was the royal family's private yacht from 1953 to 1997.
• The ship is now a museum open to the public in Edinburgh, Scotland.
• The tour shows the Queen's bedroom, state rooms used for entertaining, and crew bunks.

The Royal Yacht Britannia was the royal family's private yacht from 1953 to 1997.

With its many royal family vacations and official tours, the yacht logged over 1 million miles , the equivalent of one trip around the world for each of its 44 years at sea.

The Queen once said that "Britannia is the one place where I can truly relax."

The Labour government decommissioned the ship in 1997 due to its high operation cost of £11 million each year, Reuters reported . That's equivalent to about $23 million today.

At the decommissioning ceremony, the Queen  shed a rare public tear .

The ship has made several appearances in Netflix's "The Crown," including season five .

The yacht is now a museum open to the public in Edinburgh, Scotland.

On a recent trip to Scotland , I booked a ticket for the Royal Yacht Britannia museum, which costs £18.50 ($23) for adults.

The entrance is located inside the Ocean Terminal shopping center in Edinburgh.

Before boarding the yacht, visitors walk through a museum detailing the boat's history and connection to the royal family.

The five-story ship was a royal residence as well as a Royal Navy ship, with a full-time staff of more than 240 royal yachtsmen and officers.

The museum displays photos of the royal family's life aboard the ship, as well as items like crew uniforms.

Then, a walkway with more photos leads to the deck of the boat.

The ship is docked on the water just outside the shopping center.

I listened to the audio tour of the ship on my phone by scanning a QR code.

There were also separate listening devices available.

Each room of the ship had a number that you could type in and press "play" to hear about your surroundings in an array of languages.

The first stop was the bridge, the main control point of the yacht.

In this small space, officers navigated the seas and recorded data in the ship's logbooks.

Outside, the flag deck is the highest point on the ship.

Britannia had three masts, and different flags were used to communicate with other ships on the water.

The admiral's cabin and suite is the most spacious on the ship, aside from the royal apartments.

The admiral's accommodations featured a day room, bedroom, bathroom, and pantry. The sofa and armchairs in the dayroom are over 100 years old and came from the previous royal yacht, Victoria and Albert III.

The royal family often sunbathed, played deck hockey, or swam in a collapsible swimming pool on the Veranda Deck.

Part of the yacht's royal quarters, the deck was also used for receptions and group photos.

Prince Philip occasionally set up his easel on the deck to paint.

Overlooking the Veranda Deck, the Sun Lounge was one of the Queen's favorite rooms on the ship.

Queen Elizabeth would often take her breakfast and afternoon tea in the Sun Lounge.

The Queen's bedroom on the Royal Yacht Britannia featured bed linens that once belonged to Queen Victoria.

The embroidered silk panel above the Queen's bed, commissioned in 1953, cost £450 ($560, or $6,250 in today's money).

Her sheets were embossed with "HM The Queen."

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip had separate bedrooms connected by an adjoining door.

Each room had its own bathroom.

Philip's bedroom featured red linens, and he requested pillowcases without lace trim.

A button next to each of their beds would summon a royal steward.

Across the hall, the Honeymoon Suite was the only room onboard with a double bed.

The double bed was requested by then-Prince Charles when he honeymooned with Princess Diana in 1981.

The room was also used as a nursery when the royal children were young.

The Anteroom served as a recreational space for the officers, off-limits to the rest of the crew.

Officers would spend their time here listening to the radio and playing board games.

The royal family occasionally dined in the adjoining Wardroom.

Britannia's 19 officers ate meals here, accompanied by the Royal Marines Band.

Britannia has three galleys, which are still working kitchens today.

The galleys prepare food for the Royal Deck Tea Room and events hosted on the ship.

The Royal Deck Tea Room offers an extensive menu of soups, sandwiches, scones, and other treats for visitors to the museum.

The royal family once used the space to entertain guests and play deck games.

The state dining room is the largest room on the Royal Yacht Britannia.

Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Nelson Mandela, and many other world leaders dined here with the royal family.

The placement of each utensil was measured with a ruler.

Just off the state dining room, the Queen's sitting room served as her office.

Here, the Queen would meet with her press secretaries and prepare for royal visits.

On the opposite side of the hall, the Duke of Edinburgh had his own sitting room.

Both Philip and Charles used the room as a study. Philip kept a model of his first naval command, the HMS Magpie, above his desk.

The telephones connecting the sitting rooms to each other and their private secretaries' offices are identical to the phones used in Buckingham Palace.

The large Drawing Room and connecting Anteroom could accommodate up to 250 guests.

The Drawing Room featured an electric fireplace and cozy floral furniture. When it wasn't being used as a reception space during formal events, the royal family used it to relax and play games on the card tables.

Petty officers and Royal Marine sergeants kicked back in their living quarters, also known as the mess.

Petty officers would occasionally entertain the Queen and other royal family members here.

The crew bunks weren't as glamorous as the royal apartments.

Each bunk folded up into a seat, and crew members stored their possessions in lockers.

Britannia's NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) shop sold souvenirs and sweets, as well as essentials like toothpaste.

Diana once bought Prince William a Britannia souvenir shirt from the shop. Today, it sells homemade fudge to museum guests.

The ship's sick bay and operating theater still feature the original furnishings from the 1950s.

The ship's doctor attended to crew members, while the Queen's royal surgeon traveled with her on voyages.

Britannia's laundry room could reach temperatures of 120 degrees Fahrenheit as it washed up to 600 shirts in one day.

The royal family's laundry was done on different days than the crew's laundry.

All of the clocks onboard the Royal Yacht Britannia are stopped at 3:01 p.m.

The clocks are frozen at the  time the Queen stepped off the ship for the last time  during its decommissioning ceremony in December 1997.

The tour concludes in a gift shop full of royal souvenirs.

Amid the Britannia-themed mugs, pens, and aprons, the gift shop also sold replicas of royal jewelry.

There's even a photo-op at the end of the tour where you can practice your royal wave.

The tour was full of surprising facts about royal life and travels, and I couldn't believe that we actually got to see inside Queen Elizabeth's bedroom on the ship. It's definitely worth a visit.

• Main content

Inside ‘Britannia,’ Queen Elizabeth II’s Floating Palace

The Royal Yacht, according to Her Majesty, was “the one place where I can truly relax.”

But Britannia was far more than a posh royal cruise liner. She was a showcase for cutting-edge naval engineering and the first royal yacht that could do double duty as a floating hospital in wartime, if necessary. In 1986, for instance, she rescued more than 1,000 refugees from South Yemen. Over the course of her 44 years in service, Britannia facilitated 968 official visits and traveled over one million nautical miles.

She was also, of course, a time capsule of the best British design of the time, in terms of both technological prowess and decoration. Read on for more about the ship’s history, and where the Royal Yacht Britannia is now (hint: You can visit !).

What’s the backstory of Britannia ?

This history of royal liners goes back centuries. In fact, Britannia was the 83rd royal yacht; the first, HMY Mary, was constructed in 1660 by the Dutch East India Company and given as a gift to Charles II. Britannia ’s predecessor, Victoria & Albert III, was completed in 1901 and used by Edward II up through George VI, but was decommissioned in 1939 and eventually broken up as scrap. A new yacht was commissioned on February 4, 1952, in an effort to help King George VI’s health, according to the Royal Yacht Britannia museum, but the king died just two days later. The task to oversee the construction of the new yacht, then, fell on the young Queen Elizabeth II.

Who Built the Royal Yacht Britannia ?

Britannia was designed by John Brown & Co., the same marine engineering firm that built the RMS Lusitania and the Queen Mary. Construction on Britannia began in June 1952, and she was launched in a ceremony on April 16, 1953. The young queen didn’t reveal the name of the liner until her televised address in which she proudly stated before roaring crowds, “I name this ship Britannia .” Notably, a bottle of wine as opposed to the more traditional Champagne, was smashed across the ship’s bow during the christening—Champagne would have been much too ostentatious amid postwar austerity.

Who designed the Royal Yacht Britannia ’s interiors?

According to a technical paper presented to the Institution of Naval Architects in the spring of 1954, the royal and state apartments were to be on par with those of a first-class ocean liner. “The suitability of the decorative design and the furnishing of the Royal and State apartments has, of course, been very important,” the paper noted.

At first, Patrick McBride of the Glasgow, Scotland–based firm, McInnes Gardner & Partners, was selected to design the interiors, but the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh rejected those plans, deeming them too lavish, according to the Royal Yacht Britannia museum. Sir Hugh Casson, the director of architecture at the 1951 Festival of Britain, was the perfect candidate, with his modern eye and lack of ostentation. The design, the architect later wrote in his diary, “was really running a lawn mower over the Louis XVIl adornments. I was going to concentrate on one-color carpet throughout, which was sort of lilac/gray, and all the walls would be white. The only enrichments would be a bit of gilding in grand places.”

Working with Casson, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were highly involved, giving input for everything ranging from the furniture (much of it salvaged from the vessel’s predecessor, Victoria & Albert III , as another way to appear thrifty) to the ship’s blue exterior paint, inspired by the Duke of Edinburgh’s racing yacht, Bluebottle. Apartments featured a design like an elegant-yet-muted English country house, filled with floral sofas and antiques. The state drawing room could accommodate up to 250 guests. The Queen’s favorite room was the sun lounge, with its warm teak walls and rattan furnishings, and views across the veranda deck.

“I suppose Britannia was rather special as far as we were concerned because we were involved from the very beginning in organizing the design and furnishing and equipping and hanging the pictures and everything else,” Prince Philip said in a 1995 documentary film about the yacht. “For us it was rather special because all the other places we live in have been built by our predecessors. They started building Windsor 1,000 years ago, and they built Balmoral 100 years ago, and they built Sandringham 70 or 90 years ago. So we, in a sense, had our own.”

So successful was the partnership that Casson would go on to become a dear friend of the royal family and design interiors for Buckingham Palace, Balmoral , and Windsor Castle

Britannia was also a second home for the royal children. Each was given a member of the crew or “sea daddy” to look after them. “We found as children that there was so much to do, we expended so much energy that we couldn’t describe our time on the yacht as a rest,” Princess Anne said. Milk was delivered fresh from a farmer each day for the royal children, according to letters from the ship’s Acting Captain J. S. Dalglish. Later, the yacht would become the venue for numerous royal honeymoons and vacations, including Princess Diana and Prince Charles’s infamous 1981 Mediterranean cruise.

Where is the Royal Yacht Britannia Now?

As documented in season 5 of The Crown , the Royal Yacht was decommissioned on December 11, 1997, at a ceremony in Portsmouth, U.K., after nearly half a century in service and having traveled more than one million nautical miles. In addition to Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward all attended the ceremony. As the British ensign was lowered to the tune of a navy band, Her Majesty was photographed blinking back tears .

Britannia was retired to Port of Leith in Edinburgh. Today, as one of the most popular tourist sites in the U.K., she serves as a museum and receives some 350,000 visitors per year who can tour the State dining room, the Queen’s bedroom, and sun lounge, as well as view the engine room and crew’s cabins. Visitors can even have tea and scones on the royal deck. The majority of the items on display are original to the yacht and are on loan from the Royal Collection.

In a bizarre 21st-century twist, former British prime minister Boris Johnson announced plans to build a Britannia successor, a £250 million yet-to-be-named, taxpayer-funded superyacht to operate as a “floating embassy.” The new British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, recently torpedoed those plans in favor of building a surveillance ship.

Anna Fixsen, Deputy Digital Editor at ELLE DECOR, focuses on how to share the best of the design world through in-depth reportage and online storytelling. Prior to joining the staff, she has held positions at Architectural Digest, Metropolis, and Architectural Record magazines. elledecor.com 

Celebrity Style

Inside Kate Middleton’s Adelaide Cottage

Kate Middleton Has Been Diagnosed With Cancer

Inside Lady Rose Hanbury’s Houghton Hall Residence

A Look at the Homes of the British Royal Family

Alicia Keys Reveals Her Tips for Collecting Art

What, Exactly, Is American Riviera Orchard?

Is Kate Middleton Recuperating at This Estate?

Freddie Mercury’s London Mansion Is For Sale

Jeremiah Brent Is the New Bobby Berk on Queer Eye

RHOSLC Star Whitney Rose Is Selling Her House

Emma Stone’s Cute L.A. Home Sells in Record Time

Queen Elizabeth Cried When The Royal Yacht Britannia Was Decommissioned In 1997

The floating palace served the royal family for 44 years.

The Crown Season 5 kicks off with a flashback of a young Queen Elizabeth II in Scotland for the launch of the Royal Yacht Britannia , just as both she and the vessel were about to venture into uncharted waters. In an obvious metaphor, the United Kingdom’s newly crowned queen expressed her hope that the Britannia would be “dependable and constant, capable of weathering any storm.” As viewers now know, the late British monarch went on to enjoy a historic reign prior to her death on Sept. 8, 2022. As for whether the Royal Yacht had as impressive of a run, here’s everything to know about Britannia’s current whereabouts and sailing status.

The new royal yacht, which was commissioned just two days before King George VI died in February 1952, was designed to travel the globe and double as a wartime hospital ship. In light of the King’s declining health before his death, it was also intended to be a cruising convalescent residence for the ailing royal. As portrayed in the Netflix series, the Britannia launched from a Clydebank, Scotland shipyard in April 1953.

For the next 44 years, the yacht would serve as a royal residence for Queen Elizabeth, who welcomed aboard such world leaders as Sir Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Ronald Reagan, and Rajiv Gandhi, among others, for various state dinners. Meanwhile, other members of the Royal Family over the years used Britannia for such purposes as family holidays and honeymoons. Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong-Jones were the first newlyweds to honeymoon on the yacht in 1960, and Prince Charles and Princess Diana later famously spent their 1981 honeymoon on a Mediterranean cruise aboard the yacht. According to Town & Country , the crew managed to duck the press so efficiently that the Britannia earned the nickname “the ghost ship.”

Outside of the vessel’s recreational uses, the Yacht also played a role in some major historic events. When a civil war broke out in South Yemen in January 1986, for example, the Britannia, as a non-combatant Royal Navy ship, was allowed to enter territorial waters to rescue trapped British nationals without inflaming the conflict.

After traveling more than one million nautical miles, former Prime Minister Tony Blair decommissioned the Britannia in 1997. The ship became the last of 83 Royal Yachts, a tradition dating back to Charles II’s reign in the 1660s. “Looking back over forty-four years we can all reflect with pride and gratitude upon this great ship which has served the country, the Royal Navy and my family with such distinction,” said the Queen, who was photographed publicly shedding tears at the ceremony. All of the ship’s clocks remain stopped at 3:01, the exact time that she disembarked for the last time.

Now, the Britannia is located in Edinburgh and serves as a tourist attraction and exclusive events venue. Visitors can explore each of the five decks of Queen Elizabeth’s “floating palace” during hours that it’s open to the public. Meanwhile, the yacht is also available for private tours and exclusive use, as it is available to rent for birthdays, anniversaries, corporate events, etc. For the first time, Britannia will also host a “Royal New Year” party for ticketholders to ring in 2023 aboard the historic yacht.