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His Majesty King George V was a sailing and racing enthusiast. His beloved racing yacht “Britannia” was built in 1893 for Queen Victorias son Prince Albert Edward.. She served two Kings with a legendary racing career, King Albert Edward, and his son, King George V. In 1920, King George V triggered the revival of Big Class Yachts by announcing that Britannia would be refit for racing.

Although Britannia was the oldest yacht in the circuit, regular updates to her rig kept her a most successful racer throughout the 1920s. In 1931, she was converted to the J-Class with a Bermuda rig. During her 40 year racing career she won 231 races and took another 129 flags.

King George V’s dying wish was for his beloved yacht to follow him to the grave, so upon his death in 1936, in honor of the late Kings wishes Britanna was towed out to St. Catherine’s Deep near the Isle of Wight and sent to rest beneath the waves, with a simple garland of flowers placed on her stem-head.

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Sailing Yacht Britannia

In April 1893, some 20 years into G. L. Watson ’s trail blazing career, the royal sailing yacht  Britannia was launched. The prestige associated with this order from the Price of Wales, Britannia’s revolutionary design, enduring beauty, speed and a 43 year career in the ownerships of King Edward VII and King George V have all contributed to the Britannia legend.

The Royal sailing yacht Britannia racing Career

Britannia was built at D&W Henderson’s shipyard on the Clyde alongside her near sister, the America’s Cup challenger Valkyrie II . Her spoon bow was controversial and Watson was initially condemned for experimenting on such a prestigious commission, but it was not long before her admirable qualities were recognised and the perfection of hull form became known as the ‘ Britannia ideal’.

In the great season of 1893, Britannia acted as a trial horse for America’s Cup challenger Valkyrie II and saw off the challenge of the Herreshoff designed Navahoe to dominate racing in British waters. The following year when America’s Cup victor Vigilant raced in Britain in what was mooted as a re-run of the America’s Cup races, Britannia dominated; upholding British racing prowess after the loss of Valkyrie II .

The introduction of a new rating rule in 1896 gave Watson the opportunity to out-design Britannia , but the arrival of the Kaiser’s Meteor II killed off both the King’s pleasure and his prospects of winning. In 1898 Edward VII sold Britannia , but soon regretted it and by 1902 she was back in his ownership and once again became a regular sight on the British regatta circuit. Inherited by George V in 1910, Britannia was updated and again raced successfully in the British Big Class. The lead provided by George V in fitting out Britannia for the 1920 season re-established the Big Class in the aftermath of World War I and paved the way for the likes of Cambria , Astra and the J Class.

Conversion to J-Class

Following Watson’s early death in 1904, all leading British yacht designers were involved in the regular updating of the royal sailing yacht  Britannia . In 1930 it was Charles E. Nicholson ’s turn and he designed what remains the world’s tallest wooden mast for her. In 1931 Britannia emerged rejuvenated to race competitively with the J Class against which she would add a further 15 firsts to her racing record.

Britannia’s last season was the summer of 1935, when the American J Class Yankee visited British waters, in what was the last great flourishing of Big Class racing. Then with the King’s health failing she was withdrawn from racing and on 10th July 1936 her great career came to an end. As per the dying wishes of George V, she was towed out to St. Catherine’s Deep off the Isle of Wight and scuttled.

Although not a sailor, King Edward VIII fully appreciated the affection that surrounded Britannia and after she was scuttled, he commanded that G. L. Watson & Co. be presented with a memento of what remains the most successful racing yacht of all time. This souvenir of Britannia is held in the G.L. Watson Archive together with the original drawings.

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King George V's Britannia and The Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert

Britannia, the Prince of Wales’s First Class Cutter

Britannia was ordered in 1892 by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and designed by George Lennox Watson.

Britannia was launched on 20 April 1893 and joined a fleet of first class cutters that was growing fast as others followed the royal lead. In a highly competitive fleet, Britannia soon set about achieving the race results which would eventually establish her as the most successful racing yacht of all time.

By the end of her first year’s racing, Britannia had scored thirty-three wins from forty-three starts. In her second season, she won all seven races for the first class yachts on the French Riviera, and then beat the 1893 America’s Cup defender Vigilant in home waters

Despite a lull in big yacht racing after 1897, Britannia served as a trial horse for Sir Thomas Lipton‘s first America’s Cup challenger Shamrock.

After the death of King Edward VII in 1910 it was inherited by King George V.

In 1920, King George V triggered the revival of the “Big class” by announcing that he would refit Britannia for racing. Although Britannia was the oldest yacht in the circuit, regular updates to her rig kept her a most successful racer throughout the 1920s. In 1931 she was converted to the J class with a Bermuda rig. Her last race was at Cowes in 1935. During her racing career she had won 231 races.

King George V died in 1936 and his dying wish was for his beloved yacht to follow him to the grave. On 10 July 1936, after Britannia had been stripped of her spars and fittings, her hull was towed out to St Catherine’s Deep off the Isle of Wight where she was sunk by HMS Winchester .

Britannia’s 51-foot (16 m) long gaff, the king’s chair, tiller, some mast hoops, blocks and rigging, anchor chain and clock are preserved in the Sir Max Aitken Museum in Cowes High Street and the remains of her spinnaker boom are at Carisbrooke Castle, also on the Isle of Wight.

The Royal Yacht Victoria & Albert II

HMY Victoria and Albert (II) a 360-foot steamer  launched 16 January 1855, was a  royal yacht  of the  sovereign  of the  United Kingdom  until 1900, owned and operated by the  Royal Navy . Of 2,470  tons , the yacht could make 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) on her paddles. There were 240 crew. From 1893 to 1896 Rear Admiral  John Denison commanded the royal yacht. Victoria and Albert was scrapped in about 1904.

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K1 Britannia Yacht – History and Heritage

His Majesty King George V was a sailing and racing enthusiast. His beloved racing yacht “Britannia” was built in 1893 for Queen Victorias son Prince Albert Edward.. She served two Kings with a legendary racing career, King Albert Edward, and his son, King George V.

In 1920, King George V triggered the revival of Big Class Yachts by announcing that Britannia would be refit for racing. Although Britannia was the oldest yacht in the circuit, regular updates to her rig kept her a most successful racer throughout the 1920s. In 1931, she was converted to the J-Class with a Bermuda rig. During her 40 year racing career she won 231 races and took another 129 flags.

King George V’s dying wish was for his beloved yacht to follow him to the grave, so upon his death in 1936, in honor of the late Kings wishes Britanna was towed out to St. Catherine’s Deep near the Isle of Wight and sent to rest beneath the waves, with a simple garland of flowers placed on her stem-head.

– Video by K1 Britannia, see http://britanniatrust.org and http://k1britannia.org – the structures which will leverage Britannia for charity around the world.

K1 Britannia Yacht – History and Heritage from K1 Britannia on Vimeo .

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The Story Behind the Royal Family's Yacht, Britannia

The ship hosted four royal honeymoons in its 44 years of service.

Often referred to as the last royal yacht, the Britannia was decommissioned in 1997, and despite some efforts , there are no signs of a new one in the near future. Though its seafaring days may be behind it (the ship now serves as a tourist attraction in Edinburgh, Scotland), the Britannia remains an important artifact and a peek behind the curtain of royal life—it even garnered a prominent place in the fifth season of The Crown . Below, a few of its most notable moments throughout history.

It was the first royal yacht designed for ocean travel.

The ship was built by John Brown & Co at the same shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland in the same location the famous ocean liners the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary were constructed. With 12,000 horsepower, the ship could travel at a maximum 22.5 knots (approximately 25 miles per hour), ideal for ocean-going diplomacy. Prior to its launch in 1953, the royal family used ships from the Royal Navy or even passenger liners for the overseas portions of the royal tour.

In its 44 years of service, the HMY Britannia traveled around 1.1 million miles.

It was commissioned just two days before the death of King George VI.

The King was already in failing health by the time the designs for the HMY Britannia were submitted, and the hope was that traveling might help alleviate some of his symptoms. However, just two days after the John Brown shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland received the order the King passed away on February 6, 1952.

It would take just over a year for the ship to be completed, during which time its name remained a secret—it wasn't announced until the ship's official launch in April of 1953, less than two months before the Queen's coronation . Elizabeth cracked a bottle of English wine (in the post-war era, champagne was considered too extravagant for the launch of a ship) and announced, "I name this ship Britannia … I wish success to her and all who sail in her."

It was created to double as a hospital.

When Britannia was first envisioned, less than a decade after the end of World War II, the designers sought to make it as functional as possible, crafting a space that could be converted from an ocean-going royal residence to a seafaring hospital during any possible future wartime. The main veranda was laid out and re-enforced so that it could support a helicopter landing and the laundry was made much larger than on a standard naval vessel to accommodate the potential patients. Though the ship was never actually put to that purpose, it was pressed into service on a rescue mission to help evacuate European nationals from South Yemen in 1986.

The ship was home to a lot of history.

Long before it became a floating museum, the Britannia had an eye for history. The gold and white binnacle housed on the ship's veranda deck was originally part of the HMY Royal George , a royal yacht that served Queen Victoria . Likewise, some of the bed linens used by Queen Elizabeth aboard the vessel were originally made for Victoria's bed for one of the previous royal yachts.

Britannia's steering wheel was lifted from her namesake, the racing yacht HMY Britannia , built in 1893 for King Edward VII .

It was redesigned to be less opulent.

Despite the sense of luxury that the term "royal yacht" inspires, the Queen and Prince Philip were actually concerned when they began overseeing the project in 1952 that the original interior design plans by the design firm McInnes Gardner & Partners were too lavish for a country still recovering from the war. The interiors were ultimately redesigned by Sir Hugh Casson and received very minimal updates throughout her 44 years of service.

But it still had homey touches—by royal standards.

Suffice to say that even low-key royal living is a fairly high class. In addition to the 56-seat State Dining Room, which hosted luminaries including Winston Churchill, Noel Coward, Nelson Mandela, and multiple US Presidents, the ship also sported a formal staircase where the Queen would greet guests, separate bedrooms and sitting rooms for both Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh, and a phone system designed to match the unique configurations of Buckingham Palace's telephones.

In the early years of the Britannia's life it was also home to the Queen's Rolls-Royce Phantom V which was hoisted and lowered from a special garage compartment at port so that the Queen could drive her own car at each location. The space was ever so slightly too small, forcing the bumpers to be removed in order to get it into the garage without damage and then refitted when the car was removed. Ultimately Elizabeth began using cars provided for her at port instead and the garage was converted into a storage area for beer.

The steering crew couldn't see where they were going.

Life on board the HMY Britannia was far from typical for her crew. To begin with, due to the prestige and pressure of the position, the commanding officer of the royal yacht was always a flag officer, most commonly a Rear Admiral, although the first two to serve were Vice Admirals, and Britannia 's final CO was a Commodore.

While working, the crew reportedly used hand signals to communicate rather than shouting orders, in order to maintain a sense of quiet and calm for the royal residents. It was also the last ship in the royal navy where the crew members slept in hammocks, a practice that they maintained until 1973.

Perhaps the most unusual element of the ship's functioning, though, was the steering. While on most ships, the steering wheel sits on the bridge, overlooking the front of the vessel, Britannia 's was on the deck below, in the wheelhouse, which meant that the yachtsmen who were actually doing the steering couldn't see where they were going. The crew got around this rather surprising pitfall by using voice pipes from the bridge to confer navigational orders.

It was a royal honeymoon essential.

No fewer than four royal couples celebrated their honeymoons in the HMY Britannia 's honeymoon suite (the only room onboard with a double bed.)

Princess Margaret started the tradition in 1960 for her Caribbean honeymoon with Anthony Armstrong-Jones , a quiet, formal affair where dinners were taken in full evening dress every night. Things didn't go quite as smoothly for Princess Anne on her honeymoon with Captain Mark Phillips in 1973—storms and 20-foot waves left the couple stricken with seasickness for the first week of their Caribbean cruise. Prince Charles and Princess Diana famously spent their 1981 honeymoon on a Mediterranean cruise aboard the yacht. The crew managed to duck the press so efficiently they garnered the nickname "the ghost ship." The final royal honeymoon aboard the Britannia was taken by Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson , Duchess of York in 1986 when the couple traveled around the Azores.

And a family vacation spot.

In addition to her diplomatic duties on royal tours and her service as a post-wedding retreat, the Britannia was also a vessel for family vacations. During the summer months, the royal family would often take off on what became known as the Western Isles tour, cruising around the western isles of Scotland. During the trip, the family would play games and have barbecues on the islands. The stairway off of the veranda was sometimes even converted into a waterslide for the younger royals. The tour often included a stop off at the Castle of Mey to visit the Queen Mother, then making berth in Aberdeen so that the Queen could travel to her favorite summer home, Balmoral .

The Queen openly wept when HMY Britannia was decommissioned in 1997.

With so many memories around the yacht, it's not hard to understand why the decommissioning of the Britannia was upsetting for the royal family. Though plans were initially drawn up for a replacement yacht, the government ultimately determined not to fund the effort. After the Queen officially took her leave of it in 1997, the ship was placed in the port of Leith in Scotland where it serves as a floating museum and events venue . All of the clocks on board remain stopped at 3:01, the exact time that Her Majesty disembarked for the last time.

It was used for a reception for Zara Phillips before her wedding.

Though it's no longer used as their private vessel, the Britannia 's connection to the royal family didn't end in 1997. In 2011 on the night before her wedding, the Queen's oldest granddaughter Zara Phillips contracted the ship for a reception. Though her grandmother wasn't in attendance Zara celebrated her upcoming marriage to Mike Tindall onboard along with her mother and her cousins Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate, Princess Eugenie, and Princess Beatrice.

Lauren Hubbard is a freelance writer and Town & Country contributor who covers beauty, shopping, entertainment, travel, home decor, wine, and cocktails.

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The Rebirth of a Legend History of Britannia

The royal cutter yacht Britannia was built by Henderson’s on the Clyde in 1893 for Queen Victoria’s son Albert Edward, then Prince of Wales. George Lennox Watson designed her to the Length and Sail Area Rule and had her constructed at the D&W Henderson Yard on the River Clyde in Scotland.

Built of wooden planking over steel frames in little more than four months, she was launched on 20 April 1893. The time frame may have been impossibly fast by today’s standards but designer and builder alike made a fine job of Britannia.

The black-hulled beauty was exceptionally fast as well as stunning to look at. Moved down to Cowes, which she would call her home port for the next four decades, a top racing crew was assembled as Britannia was put through her paces in and around the Solent.

In her first season of racing, she scored 24 wins in 43 starts, as well as nine other prizes. In 1894 Britannia won all seven races for the ‘Big Class’ yachts on the French Riviera, then beat the 1893 America’s Cup defender Vigilant in home waters. The next three years were equally successful, with another 86 prizes to her name.

During the years leading up to World War I, Britannia was used mainly for cruising by King Edward VII and then, after his death in 1910, by his son and heir King George V.

While Britannia is famed for her racing exploits, she was also a beautiful boat on which to relax and many contemporaries told stories of their time onboard. If her elegant exterior profile transfixed the eye of observers from afar, those lucky few who got to spend time on and below her decks never forgot the experience.

Two years after the end of what was then dubbed ‘the war to end all wars’ (if only), King George V felt that the nation needed a boost. He triggered the revival of the Big Class by announcing that he would refit Britannia for racing.

Many yacht owners took up the gauntlet, including Herbert Weld who had the beautiful Lulworth built especially to race against Britannia. Although Britannia was the oldest yacht in the circuit, regular updates to her rig made her one of the most successful racers throughout the 1920s.

The Big Class revival initiated by Britannia was one of the key reasons for the immergence of the J-class yachts, built with only one mast to the Universal Rule. Five were launched in 1930 in the UK and US, namely Enterprise, Shamrock V, Weetamoe, Whirlwind and Yankee.

Never one to resist a sailing challenge, King George commissioned a major refit for Britannia in 1931 that gave her a Bermudan rig. The legendary Charles E Nicholson designed the tallest wooden mast the world has ever seen: made of silver spruce, it weighed an incredible three tons.

A rejuvenated Britannia went on to add 15 more firsts to her record during her final years, giving her a grand final total of 231 wins out of 635 races. Her last hurrah came in the summer of 1935 as she raced against the American J Class Yankee in British waters.

In January 1936 the British people mourned the passing of King George V. It was announced that in accordance with the monarch’s wishes upon his death, Britannia would be stripped of her spars and fittings and scuttled.

On 10 July 1936 her hull was picked up by HMS Winchester and towed out to St. Catherine’s Deep near the Isle of Wight. There she was scuttled and laid to rest beneath the waves, with a simple garland of flowers placed on her stem-head.

Norwegian entrepreneur Sigurd Coates decided to follow a long-cherished wish and began construction of a replica of Britannia at the Solombala shipyard in Archangel, Russia. “It started with a dream and following your dreams is a big part of life,” he says at the time.

The project then became a labour of love taking 11 years to complete and involved seven nationalities. Using the original drawings from Scotland, Sigurd and his team recreated the hull in pine wood with a laminated oak frame.

Although the boat was ready to launch for outfitting in 2005, Britannia became enmeshed in a legal minefield in Russia for another five years. By the time Sigurd was finally able to take possession of his Britannia in 2009 and move her to Norway for completion, the global recession had taken its toll financially.

Realizing the difficulty of completing the project, Sigurd was inspired by the ideas of the K1 Britannia Trust to use the boat as a flagship for charity, and agreed to sell her. The hull was transported to Cowes and taken out of the water at the Southboats yard. K1 invested in the scaffolding, cradle, tools and workmen required and rebuilding work resumed in earnest on the next stages of the Britannia build.

The Southboats yard was liquidated and all building work stopped. Britannia was placed back in the water. Over the next couple of years, various surveyors carefully inspected Britannia and a full scope of the work for continuing the rebuild was undertaken.

The K1 team decided to broaden its thinking as to the best type of replica and how they could fulfill the purpose of Britannia while ensuring Britannia’s relevance and stature in the modern sailing world. Based on research, and in the interest of sustainability, the Trust decided to follow the vision of GL Watson while also maximizing the best technology available to boat builders today

Old Salt Blog

A virtual port of call for all those who love the sea , hosted by nautical novelist rick spilman.

The Kings Yacht – HMY Britannia

The Kings Yacht – Britannia’s Story

The Kings Yacht – HMY Britannia — 2 Comments

Video by K1 Britannia, the structures which will leverage the Britannia replica for charity around the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtQRGBWaqy4&feature=youtu.be&nohtml5=False#t=20.334535

If you wish to see her original gaff spar it is hanging, impressively, from the ceiling in the Duke of York pub in West Cowes. It was made by Fifes of Fairlie who made most of the large UK spars for these leviathans. It is, I guess, forty feet long and two feet in diameter. The spar was made from first turning a log into a constant diameter and then halving it along its length. The two halves were then hollowed out until the wall thickness was about two and a half inches. One half was turned end for end and the two halves were then glued together to make a stable, strong and light spar. This would have been used with rings to support the vertical weight of the sail but as strikes began to appear, wire mousings would have been added with wooden spacers and battens to allow the rings to negotiate them. These are fitted to the Duke of York’s spar but the original wire mousings have been replaced by rope. The spar was discovered hanging in a warehouse when a ceiling was removed and the now owner bought it for £2000 but if he sells it any profit will be split with the original owner 50/50. The spar was to be put in place by Claire Lallow Boatbuilders and their gang appeared one evening as dinner was being served. They passed it through an opening from a removed window and as it entered the building, it was realised that a hole would need to be punched through an existing wall and this was quickly achieved. Nobody’s dinner was interrupted, it was just another night out in Cowes.

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The Royal Yacht Britannia : A History of Queen Elizabeth II’s Favorite Palace

By Lisa Liebman

The christening of The Royal Yacht Britannia serves as a cheeky season opener to  The Crown . Black-and-white Pathé News–style footage shows a soon-to-be-crowned Queen Elizabeth II (Claire Foy) cheered on by shipbuilders as she launches her new 412-foot yacht. “I hope that this brand-new vessel, like your brand-new queen, will prove to be dependable and constant. Capable of weathering any storm,” she says about the royal replacement for the  Victoria and Albert III . By the series’ season finale, set 44 years later, both the sovereign and the floating palace she christened  Britannia will have hit rough seas—the cost of repairing the creaky old vessel and the modern role of the monarchy both in question. Ultimately, the yacht that undertook 968 official voyages all over the world, hosting dignitaries—including 13 US presidents—at receptions and banquets, was dry-docked near Edinburgh, Scotland, where it continues to be a popular tourist attraction. Here are some of the most buoyant facts about the palace the Queen famously said was “the one place where I can truly relax.”

The sun room on the Royal Yacht Britannia as photographed in 1981. 

In a nod to the country’s post-war austerity, Elizabeth scaled back the design of the ship that her father, King George VI, had commissioned just two days before he died. Rather than following the opulent plan laid out by the Scottish firm McInnes Gardner & Partners, she opted for the understated elegance envisioned by architect Sir Hugh Casson, who described “running a lawn mower over the Louis XVIl adornments” in favor of simple white walls, lilac-gray carpeting, and “a bit of gilding in grand places.” Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Phillip, were said to have personally chosen the furniture—much of it, including linens, recycled from the  Victoria and Albert —fabrics (florals, chintz, toile), and paintings. 

Prince Charles and Princess Diana on board the Royal Yacht Britannia as they prepare to depart on their honeymoon cruise in 1981.

As a former Royal Navy Commander, Prince Phillip also saw to the ship’s technical details, and his Bluebottle racing yacht inspired the Britannia ’s navy-hued hull. Outer decks were made of two-inch Burmese teak. The steering wheel was reclaimed from Britannia ’s namesake, King Edward VII’s 1893 racing yacht; a wheelhouse wheel came from George V’s racing yacht; and a gold-and-white binnacle (housing the ship’s compass) was salvaged from King George III’s yacht and installed on the Veranda deck. Fittings from former royal ships were also reused. 

The drawing room on the Royal Yacht Britannia as photographed in 1978. 

The 4,000-ton yacht had a crew of 220 Royal Yachtsmen who lived on board, about 45 household staff, and occasionally a 26-member Royal Marine embarked to entertain dignitaries. The monarch often welcomed guests from the ship’s grand staircase. (Stairs leading from the Veranda to the Royal deck were sometimes transformed into a water slide for the kids.)  Britannia ’s apartments were designed like those of a first-class ocean liner. A 56-seat state dining room, where many of the gifts given to the monarch (a wood-carved shark from Pitcairn Island, a bejeweled gold statue from Bangkok) were displayed, was the scene of formal dinners with guests such as Sir Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra, Nelson Mandela, and Bill and Hillary Clinton. More intimate gatherings were held in the Queen’s official reception room, a smaller state drawing room with floral upholstered pieces, simple wood tables, an electric fireplace, and a Welmar baby grand piano bolted to the deck—played by everyone from Sir Noël Coward to Princesses Diana and Margaret. The teak-clad sun lounge, with rattan furniture and a toile loveseat, was Elizabeth’s favorite place—where she had her breakfast, afternoon tea, and also enjoyed her favorite Dubonnet and gin cocktails.

The Queen’s sitting room on the Royal Yacht Britannia as photographed in 1981. 

By Katherine McLaughlin

By Bianca Giulione

A ship elevator reserved for royal use moved between the Upper and Shelter Decks. The latter is where four Royal Apartments (bedrooms), including the Queen and Prince Phillip’s connecting compartments, were located. Hers featured florals, his had red accents. Elizabeth’s understated Upper Deck private sitting room, done in pastels and neutrals, served as the office where she conducted state business. Phillip used his sitting room, with its wood desk facing a model of his first command, the HMS Magpie , as his study. Below deck there was a wine cellar, as well as a cargo hold that could carry a barge, speed- and sailboats, plus a royal Range Rover and Rolls-Royce. The yacht could also be converted into a hospital (though it never was).

The Queen shed a tear at the decommissioning ceremony for thye Royal Yacht Britannia.

As depicted in  The Crown, Britannia ’s final official trip was to Hong Kong in 1997, where Prince Charles attended the handover of the territory to China. By then, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s administration was complaining that the £11 million a year needed to keep the boat afloat couldn’t be justified. With Queen Elizabeth, Prince Phillip, and all of their children in attendance,  Britannia was decommissioned at a ceremony in Portsmouth, England on December 11, 1997, with the monarch seen wiping away a tear. The yacht, now docked in Leith, Scotland, is open to the public as a museum and events space. (Prior to their wedding, Princess Anne and Mark Phillips’s daughter Zara Phillips and her fiancé Mike Tindall had a celebration there.) Visitors will note that every clock on board reads 3:01, the exact time the Queen disembarked her beloved  Britannia for the final time on that December day.

By Morgan Goldberg

By SuperyachtNews 28 Sep 2018

MONACO YACHT SHOW 2023

Britannia replica set to rule the waves again

The k1 britannia trust announces plans for a thoroughly modern replica of an 1893 thoroughbred racing yacht….

She epitomised the very essence of speed and elan in the glory days of large yacht racing at the turn of the 20th century, and during a race career spanning 43 years the 37m sailing yacht Britannia clocked 231 victories – a win rate better than one in three. Designed by the legendary GL Watson, the original Britannia was a cutter commissioned by Queen Victoria’s son, Albert Edward – later, King Edward VII.

Britannia retained her royal connections, passing from Edward VII to King George V in 1910, in whose hands she remained until his death in 1936, after which she was scuttled off the Isle of Wight. She had been converted from cutter to sloop in 1931 at the dawn of the J Class era, and it was in 1931 that she received her ‘K1’ flag number, as well as the tallest wooden mast the world had seen.

Now there are plans to bring her design back, with updated materials and construction methods to place her right back at the forefront of modern-classic racing. The K1 Britannia Trust will incorporate GL Watson’s original lines into a super-sailer with an all-aluminium hull, carbon rig with continuous carbon rigging, box boom, bowsprit, green tech, and what the Trust describes as ‘the latest technologies in yacht racing’. Called K1 Britannia , she will be built to conform with J Class Association rules so she can race with the current J Class fleet. Moreover, she will feature eco-conscious technologies, and when not racing she will be used to promote a wide range of charitable causes.

Previous attempts have been made to build a replica of Britannia , most notably by Norwegian Sigurd Coates who, in 1993, began a project to recreate her entirely in wood. After ten years of meticulous construction, and with the hull and interior finally finished and ready for outfitting, the project became embroiled in a Russian legal minefield and was held for another five years. With recession biting, the K1 Britannia Trust bought the project as a flagship for charity and moved it to Cowes on the Isle of Wight. But the project was hampered with further difficulties; after subsequent surveys and discussions on how to proceed, the Trust decided to rethink the replica and give her a thoroughly modern makeover.

“During her 43-year history Britannia was regularly modified to ensure she stayed the fastest and most competitive possible boat of her type,” says Scott Ward, a K1 Britannia trustee. “While many think of her as an historical piece – and she certainly embodies the heritage of the racing days prior to the Second World War – Britannia was actually the F1 racing boat of her day. We have become convinced that if she had been built today for the same innovative owners and by the same visionary designer, they would have insisted on staying true to her competitive racing pedigree and leveraging the latest technology. This is why we will retain the unrivalled hull lines of the original yacht and then build a replica that truly captures the spirit and performance of Britannia in every way.”

“The Trust’s vision for K1 Britannia is to bring back to life this extraordinary vessel as a truly enduring racing machine and a force for good,” explains Priya Thirumur, another of the K1 Britannia trustees. “As one of the most instantly recognizable classic yachts of all time, the future Britannia will be distinctively equipped for a new era of yachting while also serving as an international flagship for youth initiatives and maritime causes the world over.”

Construction is due to start on K1 Britannia in 2019, with the aim to reveal the yacht in all her glory at the next America’s Cup finals, which are scheduled to take place in New Zealand in 2021. The Trust is actively looking for corporate partners, and for anyone interested in the project and its charitable foundations, Trust representatives will be on hand at the Monaco Yacht Show on their stand QR12 on Quai Rainier 1er.

Image: insets from left to right – the original cutter Britannia ; Britannia in her post-1931 sloop configuration with the world's tallest wooden mast; an artist's impression of what the replica K1 Britannia will look like

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Have drawn up plans for a private "classic" motor yacht (similar length to retired brirannia) which the prime minister is trying to promote as a royal yacht. However your yacht, renamed duke of edinburgh, is a far more viable concern,moneteraly, to the british public and connects much better with the duke who regularly sailed on the solent with his good friend uffa fox. What would be the cost to the u.k. taxpayer as against the 200 million cost just to "build" a royal yacht.

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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

King george v's yacht 'britannia'.

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Historic sailing yacht replica Britannia arrives in Cowes to finish build

Scott Ward of the Britannia Trust tells me with great excitement that the sailing yacht Britannia arrived at her home port of Cowes at the weekend, having been towed all the way from from Son in Norway by the tug Svendborg Bugser A/S .

'They have done a great job and are the best tug company that we could have chosen to bring the Britannia to Cowes...it is so exciting to see everything come together this week! We still need financial support to finish the interiors, but we are going one step at a time.'

A replica of the original yacht that was build in 1893 for the then Prince of Wales HRH Albert Edward, Britannia is due to be lifted into a cradle at the Southboats Yard in Venture Quays, Cowes, where the final stages of her build will take place.

The rebirth of Britannia has been long awaited, and we at Boat International have watched her yo-yo between yards, first in Russia and then Norway, but now she has arrived home safely under the guardianship of the Britannia Trust which aims to recapture the glory of her predecessor as authentically as possible.

The history of the original Britannia

Albert Edward, Prince of Wales commissioned Scottish designer George Lennox Watson to design the 37m gaff-rigged cutter Britannia in 1892 after seeing his handiwork in the form of Kaiser Wilhelm II's racing cutter Thistle . Designed to the 'Length and Sail Area Rule' Britannia was built alongside the Prince of Wales' America's Cup challenger Valkyrie II at the D&W Henderson Yard on the River Clyde, and was launched on 20 April 1893, a week ahead of Valkyrie II . During her long yachting and racing career Britannia served both the Prince of Wales - later Edward VII - and his son, King George V, distinguishing herself with line honours in many races - winning a total of 231 and taking another 129 flags.

King George V refitted Britannia for racing in 1920, effectively reviving 'Big Class' racing which had been in a lull for some time. Despite being the oldest yacht in the circuit, Britannia remained a successful racer with regular updates to her rig. In 1931, she was converted to the J Class with a Bermuda rig and her last race was at Cowes in 1935.

On King George V's instruction that she was to follow him to the grave, Britannia was stripped of her spars and fittings and her hull was towed out to St Catherine’s Deep near the Isle of Wight, where she was scuppered on 10 July 1936. This marked the end of big yacht racing in Europe, after which the smaller and more affordable International Rule 12-Metre Class began to gain popularity.

The role of the Britannia Trust

In 1994, the only exact replica of 'The King’s Yacht' Britannia was commissioned (after due royal approval by HM the Queen) and built in Russia, but after many problems and hard negotiations with her Russian shipbuilders, was finally released to her then owner, Mr Sigurd Coates, who duly shipped her to Norway in 2009. The project then came to a standstill, until now.

Britannia and the reconstruction project have been acquired by Minicast Holdings Ltd, Gibraltar, which, upon its completion, will be donating the use of the yacht for a minimum of 10 years to the Britannia Trust to be a flagship for charity. The extraordinary story behind Britannia is expected to be a great draw, making her an ideal focus for charitable causes.

Reconstruction of the Britannia replica yacht

The hull and deck of the replica yacht Britannia are sound, but the interior needs to be completely refitted, and the engines and generators replaced. The estimated cost for the refitting of these items is projected to be about £1.5 million, and an amount of £2.3 million has been budgeted for the completion of the full reconstruction process. The reconstruction team has already approached a number of companies to assist in sponsoring the capital amount required, and is confident that the reconstruction work can be completed within budget and on time.

Mr Giuseppe Longo has agreed to project manage Britannia ’s reconstruction process. He has been at the helm of the internationally acclaimed restoration of the yacht Lulworth , and has won a number of awards for his outstanding work in this field. He will oversee and supervise the entire process from start to finish.

Stefano Faggioni of Studio Faggioni Yacht Design has been charged with the task of recreating the original interior of Britannia in the replica yacht. It will have the same 'old world' look and feel, but will be equipped with full modern amenities. The existing interior will have to be completely stripped down before the painstaking process of refitting the yacht to the exact specifications of her predecessor can begin.

The entire reconstruction process - from docking in the dry-docks to the final unveiling of the restored product - will be documented for posterity via film and digital media, and a webcam will stream live video from the dockyard so that her build progress can be followed from anywhere in the world. This will ultimately be edited into a time-lapse video of her remake from start to finish, which will serve as a visual record of history in the making, and a picture timeline will be hung up in the completed Britannia .

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The royal faux pas at Cowes Week that foreshadowed the First World War

By Rebecca Cope

This week marks the return of Cowes Week on the Isle of Wight, an all-singing, all-dancing sailing competition attended by the great and the good of high society. The annual festivities have had a royal connection as early as its second year, 1826, when King George IV showed his approval of the event by presenting the King's Cup.

Queen Victoria, who ascended to the throne 11 years after it was established, was another notable royal patron. There is even a famous old British joke about her fondness for the island: 'Why did Queen Victoria never ride a horse?' 'Because she preferred Cowes'.

By Harriet Johnston

By Isaac Bickerstaff

Yet it was two of Victoria's descendants who have perhaps the most significant history at Cowes, her son Prince Edward (future King Edward VII) and her grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who regularly clashed there in the 1890s.

On his annual trip to see his British relatives, Wilhelm was reportedly loud and aggressive, with his sense of humour leaving much to be desired. Meanwhile from the other side, it has been speculated that his British relatives mocked his attire, which was not right for the summer-casual aesthetic at Cowes, with its boat shoes and striped blazers.

The kaiser and the future king tried constantly to one-up each other with bigger, faster, flashier boats, with the German nephew desperate to impress his English uncle, who of course was known for his great fleet of naval ships.

In 1896, the kaiser had the biggest yacht yet built, the 121-ft long Meteor II , which he pitted against Edward's Britannia . After it won, the future king retired from racing at Cowes.

In 2008, reports emerged via the descendant of a bystander that the future king had punched his nephew, after he laughed at him for losing in a race. As Henry Brasted, son of local yachting specialist William Brasted, told the Daily Gazette : 'Kaiser Bill jeered King Teddy about the result, where straight away King Teddy hit him in the mouth, knocked him down, then stormed into the club.

'My father watched all this from the beaten rowing cutter. That episode was never printed in the papers at that time - imagine the consequences if they had.'

Historian Maldwin Drummond confirmed that there was a frostiness between the two royals, telling the paper at the time: 'There was certainly a considerable amount of bad blood. They were never pals because the kaiser was always trying to be one up. This irritated the Prince of Wales at first but later on it became more annoying, and there was no love lost between them.'

Of course, by the 1910s, relations between the uncle and his nephew were truly in a bad way, with the outbreak of the First World War looming in 1914.

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More from Tatler

By Hope Coke

• Yachting World
• Digital Edition

J Class: the enduring appeal of the world’s most majestic yachts

• October 9, 2023

Only ten J Class yachts were built before the Second World War stopped the movement in its tracks, but in the last 20 years these magnificent sloops have made an incredible comeback. Why has the J Class remained irresistable? David Glenn explains.

One of the most awe-inspiring sights in modern yachting is the Spirit of Tradition fleet blasting off the start line at the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta. It happens every year at the end of April. Chances are it will include at least two J Class yachts, hitting the line on the gun at full tilt, exploding through the cobalt blue Caribbean rollers at anything up to 12 knots as they charge upwind.

Watching Velsheda , Ranger , Shamrock V and Endeavour will bring a lump to your throat, such is the emotion generated by these beautifully proportioned 130ft racing machines with their carbon rigs driving 170 tonnes of steel, aluminium and teak towards the weather mark. It’s heady stuff.

Watching them is one thing; racing quite another matter. In 1999 I was aboard the rebuilt Velsheda , taking part in the Antigua Classic Regatta. I had a single task as part of a four-man team – to tend the forward starboard runner. Nothing else. “Let that go once we’ve tacked and the whole rig comes down,” warned skipper Simon Bolt, as another wall of water thundered down the leeward deck and tried to rip me from the winch.

Dressed in authentic off-white, one-piece cotton boiler-suits, which had to be worn with a stout belt “so there’s something to grab if you go overboard”, they were tough, adrenaline-filled days out. God knows what it was like up forward as massive spinnakers were peeled and headsails weighing a quarter of a tonne were wrestled to the  needle-sharp foredeck as the bow buried itself into the back of yet another wave. Sometimes you daren’t look.

But with the race won or lost, back on the dock the feeling of elation, fuelled by being part of the 36-strong crew aboard one of these extraordinary yachts, triggered a high like no other. You knew you were playing a role, no matter how small, in a legendary story that began in 1930, was halted by World War II and then defied the pundits by opening another chapter 20 years ago. Today with five Js in commission, all in racing trim, and at least two more new examples about to be launched, the J Class phenomenon is back.

Why is the J Class so popular?

Why does a yacht with an arguably unexciting performance – they go upwind at 12 knots and downwind at 12 knots – costing £20 million to build and demanding eye-watering running costs, seem to be burgeoning during the worst recession since the class was born?

There is no single answer, but you only have to look back to the 1930s and the characters that owned and raced the Js on both sides of the Atlantic, sometimes for the America’s Cup , to understand why the class occupies a special place in yachting history. Underlying everything is the look of the J Class. It seems to transcend any change in yachting vogue, displaying a timeless line with outrageous overhangs and a proportion of hull to rig that is hard to better.

They possess true elegance. There is no doubt that captains of industry who want to flex their sporting muscle have been drawn to a class which only the very rich can afford and there are distinct parallels between J owners in the 1930s and those of the past 20 years. The difference is that in the 1930s owners liked to shout about their achievements and hogged the pages of national newspapers. Today, they are as quiet as mice.

Origins of the J Class

The J Class emerged in 1930 and marked a quantum leap in yachting technology, but comprised a hotchpotch of design altered over many years.

The J Class – so named because it was the letter allocated to its particular size by the Universal Rule to which the yachts were built (K and M Class yachts were, for example, shorter on the waterline) – emerged in 1930 and marked a quantum leap in yachting technology.

The so-called Big Class, which flourished in the UK in the 1920s, was impressive, but comprised a hotchpotch of design altered over many years. Yachts like King George V’s Britannia , built in 1893 as a gaff-rigged cutter but converted in the 1920s to Bermudan rig to rate as a J, Candida , Cambria , White Heather and schooners like Westward were even larger and more expensive to run. But as the greater efficiency of the Marconi or Bermudan rig became apparent their days were numbered.

One catalyst for the J Class itself was legendary grocer Sir Thomas Lipton’s final crack at challenging for the America’s Cup in 1931. He did so under the Universal Rule with the composite, wooden-planked, Charles E. Nicholson-design Shamrock V .

It was the 14th challenge since 1851 and the Americans, despite the withering effects of the Great Depression, reacted in dramatic fashion, organising their defence with four syndicates, each bulging with millionaires, putting forward separate Js: Enterprise , Whirlwind , Weetamoe and Yankee , which apart from Enterprise had already been launched.

Key to the American effort was the remarkable Harold Vanderbilt of the New York Yacht Club, who had inherited fabulous wealth from the family’s railroad companies, making him one of the country’s richest men.

Brought up on the family’s Idle Hour estate on Long Island Sound, he was a keen and accomplished sailor, and he used American technology and teamwork to build a far superior J in Enterprise. The defence completely overwhelmed Lipton’s effort. The British press castigated Lipton’s lack of preparedness and old-fashioned attitude. Vanderbilt, who among other things is credited with inventing contract bridge, left no stone unturned. “Mr. Harold Vanderbilt does not exactly go boat-sailing because summer is the closed season for fox-hunting,” stated an acerbic critic in the British yachting press.

Later when Shamrock was owned by aircraft builder Sir Richard Fairey and was being used to train crew for another Cup challenge, Beecher Moore, a skilful dinghy sailor who was draughted aboard the J to try to sort her out, reported in Yachts and Yachting many years later: “We found that when we got on board it was very much like a well-run country house, in that the gentleman does not go into the kitchen and on a well-run J Class the owner does not go forward of the mast.”

J Class tactics: Britain vs USA

A look at the huge gap between the British and American J Class tactics and designs in the early years of the America’s Cup.

In the early days there was a yawning gap between the way the Americans and British approached the Cup and, for that matter, how they ran a yacht. Revolutionary metal masts, Park Avenue booms to improve sail shape (the British copied this American design with their ‘North Circular’ version), bronze hulls that needed no painting, superior sails, and campaigns that cost £100,000 even in those days, blew away the Brits. Lipton had spent just £30,000 to build and equip Shamrock .

In the second Cup challenge in Js, in 1934, Sir T. O. M. Sopwith’s first Endeavour , also designed by Nicholson and equipped with wind instruments designed by her aircraft industrialist owner, nearly won the Cup, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory after leading the series 0-2. Sopwith was also up against Vanderbilt, who this time sailed Rainbow , which many considered to be the slower boat. But the British campaign was hobbled by a pay dispute – Endeavour ’s crew got £5 a week but they wanted a raise for ‘going foreign’ – and the campaign approach was again brought into question when the first thing to be stripped off the yacht when they won a dispute over reducing weight was the bath!

Back in Britain, the 1935 season proved to be the zenith of J Class and Big Class racing, although by the end of it the Js were under the cosh for their tendency to lose masts. Five went over the side that year and Endeavour II , launched with en eye on the next Cup challenge, lost hers twice.

There was added spice in the competition off the shores of the UK with the arrival of the American J Yankee , now owned by millionaire and Listerine businessman Gerard Lambert, who enjoyed sparring with the Brits. But even Yankee lost her mast and the press rounded on the class for being dangerous and wasteful! That wasn’t enough to stop Sopwith, whose tail had been extracted from between his legs following the last defeat in Newport: Endeavour II was towed across the Atlantic in a veritable armada that included  the first Endeavour. The British yachts found themselves up against the most advanced sailing machine the world had ever seen – Ranger , dubbed ‘the Super J’.

Vanderbilt was the man to beat again. Not only had he bankrolled the entire defence as American business remained beset by a struggling economy, but he used highly scientific means to perfect design. The brilliant naval architect Starling Burgess, who had designed for Vanderbilt throughout the 1930s, was now aided by the equally brilliant but considerably more youthful Olin Stephens. Between them they finally selected ‘model 77-C’ from six tank tested.

The yacht was considered ugly by some and not a natural to look at, but Vanderbilt’s team trusted the science (still the difference between the Americans and the Brits) and Ranger with her bluff or barrel bow and ‘low slung’ counter was the result. She proved to be dynamite on the race course and Endeavour II didn’t stand a chance. She was beaten in five straight races by large margins. The Americans and Vanderbilt had done it again. War then brought an end to an extraordinary era in yachting.

Only ten J Class yachts were built to the Universal rule and not a single American yacht survived. Most were scrapped for the war effort. In any case, the American way was to discard the machine once it has served its purpose. In Britain they faired a little better, and some Js were mud-berthed on the East and South Coasts. Two survived in the UK: Velsheda , originally built by the businessman who ran Woolworths in the UK (W. L. Stevenson named her after his daughters Velma, Sheila and Daphne), but which never challenged for the America’s Cup; and Endeavour , saved by becoming a houseboat on the Hamble. Shamrock ended up in Italy and survived the war hidden in a hay barn.

J Class resurgence

Seemingly resigned to the history books, the J Class made a triumphant return in the 1980s.

In his seminal book about the J Class, Enterprise to Endeavour, yachting historian Ian Dear predicted in the first edition in 1977 that the likes of the Js would never be seen again. By the time the fourth edition was published in 1999 he was quite happily eating his words!

The American Elizabeth Meyer was, without doubt, instrumental in bringing the class back to life when in the 1980s she extracted what was left of Endeavour from a  amble mud-berth, began rebuilding her in Calshot, and then moved her to Royal Huisman in Holland, who completed the restoration superbly. With the transom of the original Ranger mounted on a bulkhead in her saloon, Endeavour is still regarded as one of the best-looking and potentially fastest Js.

She was owned briefly by Dennis Kozlowski, the disgraced tycoon who ran Tyco, who famously said: “No one really owns Endeavour, she’s part of yachting history. I’m delighted to be the current caretaker.” Unfortunately he ended up in prison and the State of New York became Endeavour’s ‘caretaker’ before they sold her to her current owner, who has kept the yacht in the Pacific. She’s currently being refitted in New Zealand.

Ronald de Waal is a Dutchman who until recently was chairman of the Saks Group in the USA and has made a fortune in clothing. He has dedicated a lot of time to improving Velsheda over the years since he had her rebuilt by Southampton Yacht Services to a reconfigured design by Dutch naval architect Gerry Dykstra. Ronald de Waal steers the yacht himself to great effect and has had some legendary tussles with Ranger, the new Super J built in Denmark for American realestate magnate John Williams.

The rivalry between the two is fierce and even led to a collision between the yachts in Antigua last year. But Velsheda would have been lost had it not been for British scrap-metal merchant Terry Brabant who saved her from a muddy grave on  the Hamble and famously sold his Rolls-Royce to cast a new lead keel for the yacht. With very little modern equipment he sailed her hard in the Solent, chartering her and crossing the Atlantic for a Caribbean season, all without an engine! Without Brabant’s initiative Ronald de Waal wouldn’t have what he has today.

Shamrock V is owned by a Brazilian telecommunications businessman Marcos de Moraes who had the yacht rebuilt at Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth in 2001. He tends to keep away from the race course but with a number of events being planned in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics he might be tempted back. The latest new J to launch, Hanuman, a modern interpretation of Endeavour II, has recently entered the racing fray. She was commissioned by serial yacht owner Jim Clark (Hyperion and Athena), the American who brought us Netscape and Silicon Graphics, and who remains a colossus in Silicon Valley.

Hanuman, named after a Hindu deity, built by Royal Huisman and designed by Gerry Dykstra, has had no expense spared when it comes to rig and sail wardrobe. Last year she beat Ranger in the Newport Bucket but in March this year she lost out 2-1 to the same boat at the St Barths Bucket. They were due to meet again with Velsheda at the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta in April. Another Dutchman, property developer Chris Gongriep, who has owned a number of yachts including Sapphire and Windrose of Amsterdam, has given the go-ahead for a new  version of Rainbow, which is well advanced in Holland at Freddie Bloesma’s aluminium hull fabrication yard. The yacht, reconfigured by Gerry Dykstra, will be in the water in 2011 with a full-on race programme.

About to be launched is Lionheart, the biggest J so far, redesigned by Andre Hoek and built in Holland by Claasen Jachtbouw, after an extensive research programme.  Unfortunately, her owner’s business commitments mean that he won’t be able to enjoy the fruits of this project – she’s for sale with Yachting Partners International and Hoek Brokerage. What an opportunity to join a class with such a remarkable history and one which looks destined to run and run!

First published on SuperYachtWorld.com on Aug 4, 2010

Yachts racing his Majesty King George V's Britannia versus Sir Thomas Sopwith's Endeavour, 1935

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INEOS TEAM UK name their first race boat for the 36th America’s Cup ‘Britannia’

Meet ‘Britannia’ Inspired by history with the aim to make history

• Over 90,000 design & 50,000 construction hours completed
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• INEOS TEAM UK will represent Royal Yacht Squadron Racing as their challenging Yacht Club in the 36 th  America’s Cup in New Zealand in 2021

INEOS TEAM UK have officially christened their first America’s Cup race boat from their HQ in Portsmouth, naming her ‘Britannia’ in homage to one of Britain’s most famous racing yachts.

The day marks a landmark moment for the British challenger; coming after eighteen months of the design, build and development of one of the most complex America’s Cup class boats in the 168-year history of the event.

Team Principal and Skipper, Ben Ainslie welcomed owner Jim Ratcliffe and the wider INEOS family, teammates, partners and suppliers to celebrate the naming day; “The quest to win the 36th America’s Cup has required a fresh approach, a new strategy and serious support from INEOS to focus entirely on the mission in hand. I’m hugely proud of the team’s commitment to design and build our first race-boat, it’s taken a serious amount of hard work and now we can’t wait to get Britannia out sailing on the Solent.”

From the moment the AC75 Class Rule was published on 29 March 2018 by the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand, the team have put over 90,000 design and 50,000 construction hours to get Britannia in the water.

INEOS TEAM UK Chief Designer, Nick Holroyd, outlined the complexity of the challenge; “This AC75 is the first foiling monohull of this size, it’s unlike anything ever seen on the water before, it’s hugely ambitious and it sets out an entirely new type of boat and with only eighteen months to design and build there comes challenges, but that’s what makes the Cup so exciting.”

The name ‘Britannia’ was chosen by INEOS TEAM UK founder and owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe in homage to the racing cutter yacht ‘Britannia’ whose name in turn was taken from James Thomson’s famous poem ‘Rule Britannia!’ written in 1740. The original Britannia was built in 1893 for King Edward VII, the then Prince of Wales.

King George V took ownership of Britannia in her final years converting her into a J Class racing yacht, the majestic class that was sailed in three editions of the America’s Cup from 1930-1937. She eventually finished with a lifetime record of 231 race wins and 129 further podiums making her the dominant yacht of the time.

King George V had decreed that his yacht should not outlive him. After his death in 1936, Britannia was stripped of her spars and fittings, and towed out to St Catherine’s Deep off the Isle of Wight where she was scuttled by the Royal Navy; in the same waters that the first America’s Cup was raced in back in 1851. Notably, the mast and fittings of the yacht were saved from the scuttling with the wheel subsequently fitted to the wheelhouse of the Royal Yacht Britannia steering her for the next 44 years.

INEOS TEAM UK now have a busy period of testing on Solent waters from their HQ in Portsmouth, before heading to Sardinia for winter testing ahead of the first America’s Cup World Series event in Cagliari from 23rd – 26th April 2020.

AC75 Britannia in numbers

• Construction hours: 50,000 +
• Design hours: 90,000 +
• CNC Machine hours: 45,000+
• Individual parts: 25,000
• Estimated top speed: 50knots / 57.5 mph / 92.6km/h
• Length: 22.76m with bowsprit (20.7m without)
• Max Beam: 5m beam
• Weight: 6.450 tonnes
• Hull and rig construction: Carbon fibre
• Rig: Double-skinned soft-wingsail
• Crew weight: Max 990kg

Poulet Mascotte

Sautéed chicken breasts deglazed in a white wine reduction and topped with potato slices, artichoke hearts and truffle slices.

Petits Pois, Haricots Verts

Baby Peas, French beans

Purée de Pommes de Terre

Mashed Potato

Derby Beef, Jambon, Langue, Agneau,

Bœuf, Pigeon Pie

Derby Beef (rolled silverside pickled in juniper berries and cooked with vegetables),Ham, Tongue, Lamb, Beef, Pigeon Pie

Petits pains a la mayonnaise

Small hollowed round bread-rolls filled with a mixture of shredded chicken breast bound in mayonnaise with ox tongue

and gherkin slices.

Salade de tomates et salade verte

Tomato Salad and garden Salad

Cherry Tart

His Majesty's Yacht, Britannia RYS.

Menu dated 3rd August 1935

Luncheon aboard His Majesty's Yacht, Britannia RYS, for His Majesty King George V racing in the annual Cowes regatta off the Isle on Wight.

Pigeon pie, hollowed bread-rolls filled with chicken and gherkin; and a simple cherry tart were served to King George V in 1935 as he personally raced his beloved J-Class yacht, Britannia, one last time at the Cowes’ annual regatta.

Aboard the 37 metre-long yacht (121 ft), the King and his racing crew were provided racing provisions in the form of a large royal hamper that came with its own embossed menu-cards bearing the King’s gilded personal monogram (GRV) and the yacht’s name Britannia with the suffix RYS  for the Royal Yacht Squadron.

It is possible this menu is from the King’s last ever meal aboard the yacht as the vessel, which had been built for the King’s father in 1893, was retired forever at the end of this racing week.

A former royal chef to King George V, Gabriel Tschumi, remembered how the simple sounding Petits Pains a la Mayonnaise were bread rolls that were “round instead of oval”  for which “the centre of these rolls is scooped out and filled with minced chicken, tongue and gherkin and mixed in a rich mayonnaise and topped with parsley”.

Another of the King’s personal staff, Frederick Corbitt who served as the Deputy Comptroller of Supply at Buckingham Palace, recounted how the King’s favourite two events each year were Ascot and Cowes:

“These were the two weeks of the year which the King enjoyed, I think, more than any other. The same was not true of Queen Mary. Never a good sailor, she resolutely refused to accompany her husband aboard his racing yacht.

Instead she would go ashore to the Isle of Wight from the Victoria and Albert, and spend her afternoons looking at antique shops or touring the beauty spots of the island".

Corbitt went on to remember how at Cowes, “the King and Queen lived aboard their yacht, the Victoria and Albert, and the King went racing every day in his beloved sailing yacht, the Britannia”.

He remembered how “the best dessert fruit, and flowers, were sent daily to the harbor from the Royal gardens at Windsor and were brought over from Portsmouth in one of the Victoria and Albert's barges. So, too, were the King's specially made cream cheeses, which came from the Royal dairy at Windsor".

Historical video of His Majesty's Yacht, Britannia RYS, by the

K1 Britannia organisation: ( https://k1britannia.org ).