royal yacht britannia john major

'The Crown': Did the Queen Really Demand That the Public Pay for the Britannia Yacht Refurb?

In season five of the Netflix drama, the Queen asks Prime Minister John Major to intervene. This is what actually happened

In episode one, series five of The Crown , a GP asks a “rather personal” question of the Queen (Imelda Staunton): is Balmoral her favourite residence? She demurs to answer, and instead the scene cuts to a majestic yacht, the HMY Royal Britannia, sailing somewhere in the Irish sea, presumably up to Scotland.

Five-star service? Try 10-star service on board this boujie boat: silver service suppers by candlelight; landscape painting sessions on the portside deck, a waiting staff of hundreds. Well, who wouldn’t love it? Try the British public, when, in the middle of a global recession, they were expected to shoulder a not-so-slight refurb costing £14.745 million (according to papers held by The Crown ’s Prince Phillip, Jonathan Pryce).

But while the Queen is seen asking – nay, telling – the then-PM John Major (Jonny Lee Miller) that her royal subjects will foot the bill in Peter Morgan's series, how much of this is true, and what happened to the luxury yacht in the end?

Royal Yacht Club

King Charles II first kicked off the idea that a personal boat was essential to the ruling monarch in 1660, and by the time the tradition was passed on to HRH Elizabeth II in 1953, it had evolved into the most luxury of ships.

The Queen launched the yacht in 1953, a 126-metre beast that could accommodate up to 250 guests, manned by 21 officers from the Royal Navy and 250 Royal Yachtsmen. The maiden voyage in 1954 took Prince Charles and Princess Anne to Malta to meet their parents, and over the years the boat entertained everyone from presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton to Nelson Mandela. Interestingly, the boat also doubled as a nuclear shelter for the Royals, who would have taken shelter in it off the coast of north-west Scotland, in case of an emergency.

While the yacht was mainly used for maritime jollies – Charles and Diana honeymooned on it in 1981, while the rest of the royal family used it for their annual fortnight jaunt to the west coast of Scotland, also known as their Western Isles Tour – it was also utilised to evacuate 1,000 people from Aden, Yemen, during a civil war in 1986.

However, in 1994, the Conservative government, then headed up by John Major, announced that the yacht would be lowering its anchor for the last time, due to the exorbitant running costs. Viscount Cranborne, House of Lords, said at the time: “The yacht last underwent a major refit in 1987. A further refit at an estimated cost of some £17 million would be necessary in 1996–97 but would only prolong her life for a further five years. In view of her age, even after the refit she would be difficult to maintain and expensive to run. It has therefore been decided to decommission "Britannia" in 1997.”

However, by 1997, and with a general election looming, the idea of royal yacht became a contentious issue, and the Tories declared they would recommission the yacht if they were re-elected. According to The Guardian at the time, the Queen was “furious” that the royal family was “dragged into the centre of the election campaign, just as it is fighting to restore its public image.”

“At the same time I hope it is clear to all concerned that this reticence on the part of the palace now way implies that Her Majesty is not deeply interested in the subject; on the contrary, the Queen would naturally very much welcome it if a way could be found of making available for the nation in the 21st Century the kind of service which Britannia has provided for the last 43 years.”

Speaking to the Daily Express , Professor Murphy, director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, said of his letter discovery: “It is clear that behind the scenes the palace, which had been closely informed of the progress of discussions, was keen to keep the issue alive and was putting discreet pressure on Whitehall to come up with some alternative proposals.”

While The Crown goes a step further and shows the Queen putting her foot down to demand that John Major’s party – and the public – should pay for the refurb and to keep the boat on high seas, it’s highly unlikely this meeting ever took place. In 2003, the Sunday Telegraph quoted a source that claimed the monarch would have never put pressure on the government over a politically sensitive subject: “Neither the Queen or the Duke of Edinburgh have ever expressed an opinion on the way the issue was handled and nor would they do so.”

Britannia was eventually decommissioned in 1997, after Tony Blair and Labour were voted into power, ​​and its final trip was to convey the last Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, and the Prince of Wales back from Hong Kong after its handover to the People's Republic of China. The Queen was later captured shedding a tear when it moored up in Portsmouth. The yacht is now a permanent visitor attraction in Port Leith, Edinburgh, and gets up to 300,000 shipmates a year.

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The true story of the Royal Yacht Britannia from The Crown Season 5

What really happened to the floating palace?

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Season 5 of The Crown calls the Royal Yacht Britannia the Queen’s favourite home as viewers watch the family try to save the floating palace. But what really happened to the royal yacht and what did the royal family truly think of it?

• After watching The Queen and her family fight to save their Royal Yacht, Britannia, the Crown's fifth season has viewers wondering what happened to the real Royal Yacht
• Using commentary from biographers, we break down how much of The Crown's storyline is based on fact and which parts are completely made up
• In other royal news , The Crown fans spot awkward blunder in season 5 - did you notice it?

The blurring of fact and fiction in Netflix 's The Crown has viewers once again asking if its portrayal of royal life is true to fact, slightly exaggerated or completely made up. This time the speculation surrounds the story of the royal yacht, the Britannia.

Season five uses the yacht as a heavy-handed metaphor, with questions about the costly repairs needed to keep the ageing Britannia up to par are presented alongside questions about whether the ageing queen, who is then 65-years-old, is too old for her role.

Clearly the narrative here is used to enhance the storytelling, but there is a lot of truth behind the quarrels over the royal family's beloved yacht. 

There is a real Royal Yacht Britannia, and, just like in the show, the young queen announced its name and christened it with a bottle of Empire wine. In it's 44 years of service, the Britannia was used for state visits and receptions, hosting Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton as well as Boris Yeltsin and Nelson Mandela, and was also used for royal family holidays and honeymoons. 

When civil war broke out in South Yemen in 1986, the yacht was even rerouted to help evacuate civilians.

In The Crown, the yacht is presented as the queen’s favourite “home,” a fact that real-life biographers agree with. In his book Queen of Our Times, Robert Hardman explains, “There were few places where the Queen would be happier.”

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The ship, though served by a huge crew of 220, was a haven for the royal family to relax and escape the scrutinising eye of the public. According to The Washington Post, Hugh Casson, who designed the interior, once said, “the overall idea was to give the impression of a country house at sea.”

The Crown episode centres around whether the Queen lobbied the then Prime Minister, John Major, for the government to pay for the boats extensive repairs while the country was facing a tough recession. She says in the show, “Here I am, coming to you, prime minister, on bended knee, for the sign-off, but I’m hoping that will be a formality.”

The real-life John Major called the show’s portrayal of his conversations with the Queen “a barrel-load of nonsense.” But Robert Lacey, a historical consultant on The Crown, defended the depiction. 

Speaking to The Washington Post, he argued that the subject of the yacht would have undeniably come up between the Queen and the PM, who met once a week to discuss matters of state. He said, “She certainly spoke about it to the prime minister. Obviously, the royal family would have lobbied for it. The queen did want another royal yacht.”

Robert Hardman, the royal biographer, also gave his opinion on the matter, saying that the Queen would 'no doubt' have been interested in repairs or even a replacement for the yacht, but that she would not have “leaned on her prime ministers for money.” A letter written in 1994 by the queen’s deputy private secretary that was sent to the cabinet office, and was uncovered in 2018, backs up Hardman's opinion. 

So what happened to the Britannia? John Major’s government decided against paying for the 44-year-old ship's repairs and, after a final voyage abroad to Hong Kong and a farewell tour of Britain, a decommissioning ceremony took place in Portsmouth on December the 11th, 1997. 

The ship’s clocks stopped, the Royal Marines band played and, according to Robert Lacey, “the only time the queen was seen to cry was when the royal yacht was decommissioned.”

Related articles:

• Princess Diana’s private secretary Patrick Jephson fact-checks The Crown Season 5 and shares what “was made up”
• Prince Philip tried to sue The Crown over comments blaming him for the death of his sister, royal expert reveals
• Who is Princess Diana’s friend Dr. James Colthurst and who plays him in The Crown?
• Prince Philip and Penny Knatchbull: Who is the Prince’s friend, and who plays her in The Crown season 5?
• Did Charles want the Queen to abdicate? Fact vs fiction in The Crown season 5

Charlie Elizabeth Culverhouse is royal news and entertainment writer for Goodto.com. She began her freelance journalism career after graduating from Nottingham Trent University with an MA in Magazine Journalism, receiving an NCTJ diploma, and earning a First Class BA (Hons) in Journalism at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute. She has also worked with BBC Good Food and The Independent.

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What Happened to the Royal Yacht Britannia?

By Elise Taylor

The Crown season five begins and ends with the same plot point: The Royal Yacht Britannia. The vessel serves as a—fairly obvious—metaphor in the first episode, where Imelda Staunton’s Queen Elizabeth describes it as “a floating, seagoing version of me.” The problem with her metaphorical marine self? It’s in desperate need of multi-million dollar repairs. 

She asks British prime minister John Major, played by Jonny Lee Miller, whether the government might be able to help foot the bill. He, in turn, asks if the royal family might front the cost, given the public pushback they both might receive if such a seemingly extravagant project was approved. In the final episode of the season (a note to the reader: spoilers will follow), Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth agree to decommission the yacht after Prince Charles’s trip to Hong Kong.

The Crown is known for taking much of its plot material from real-life events. In the case of the Royal Yacht Britannia, though—what really happened to the boat, and how much political controversy did it really cause?

To go back to the beginning, King George VI first commissioned the royal yacht that would become the Britannia in 1952. It was an exciting project, as the previous official boat had belonged to Queen Victoria, and was rarely used. (Queen Victoria, for one, did not like the water and never sailed.) Then, during the early 20th century, England was mostly at war, and making a massive, slow-sailing luxury ship would be a massive security risk in international waters. 

The Royal Yacht Britannia, George decided, should both be an extravagant vessel and a functional one, able to double as a hospital if times of war were to arise again. In 1953, the newly-crowned Queen Elizabeth christened the ship with a bottle of wine, as champagne was still seen as too extravagant post-war. In 1954, she set sail for the first time.

The Royal Yacht fulfilled many functions, most of them leisurely. Over the years, the boat hosted four royal honeymoons, including that of Princess Diana and Prince Charles, as well as many family vacations. In 1969, after his investiture as the Prince of Wales, Charles hosted an intimate party on board to celebrate. (Newspapers at the time wrote that he danced with his dear friend Lucia Santa Cruz —the very person who eventually introduced him to Camilla Parker Bowles.)

It also served as a grandiose mode of transport for many royal visits. In 1959, for example, Britannia sailed to Chicago to celebrate the recently-opened St. Lawrence seaway in Canada, and President Eisenhower joined her on board. Twenty years later, she sailed to Abu Dhabi for her first official visit to the United Arab Emirates, where she held a grand dinner for Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

And although Queen Elizabeth's reign was not during wartime, the royal yacht did execute a humanitarian mission, as King George VI had always planned for: In 1986, it sailed to Aden to evacuate over 1,000 refugees from the civil war in Yemen.

The New York Times once described the 412-foot Britannia as “an ordinary yacht what Buckingham Palace is to the house next door.” It wasn’t an exaggeration—Britannia was essentially a floating palace. It had a drawing room, a dining room, two sitting rooms, as well as galleys and cabins for all the officers. The stateroom interiors were just as ornate as any other royal estate, while the bedrooms—which all had their own bathrooms and dressing rooms—were designed to feel surprisingly personal. 

By Kerry McDermott

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By Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

“Within the royal apartments, however, the regal elegance gives way to the homey, patched elbow chic of an English country house, with flowered chintz slipcovers, family photographs, and rattan settees, interspersed with the occasional relic of Empire—shark's teeth from the Solomon Islands here, a golden urn commemorating Nelson's victory at Trafalgar there,” the New York Times found when it boarded the ship in 1976.

The cost of running Britannia was always an issue. Politicians raised questions about its financial value as far back as 1954, when two MPs lobbied for an investigation on why the yacht’s refurbishment would cost 5.8 million pounds, accusing the royal family of waste and extravagance. A government committee later dismissed the accusations. In 1994, the Conservative government ruled the yacht too costly to refurbish, when repairs came in at a whopping 17 million, but then briefly walked back on their decision a few years later. 

However, when Tony Blair’s Labour government won the election, and the new government once again declined to pay for Britannia. Britannia’s final journey was to far-flung Hong Kong in 1997, as Prince Charles turned over the British colony back to the Chinese at the end of Britain's 99-year lease. When they finally decommissioned the boat that summer, the queen cried—one of the few times she’s shown emotion in public. The boat had logged over one million nautical miles.

Today, Britannia sits permanently docked in Edinburgh. Visitors can take tours of its grand galleys, or even rent it out for events. Yet, despite its retirement, the concept of the royal yacht lives on: In 2021, Boris Johnson floated the idea of a new boat. However, a mere eight days ago, Rishi Sunak has scrapped the project—showing that, even now, the concept remains a controversial one.

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What really happened to Royal Yacht Britannia from ‘The Crown’ Season 5?

LONDON — The much-hyped fifth season of “The Crown” opens with a heavy-handed metaphor weighing approximately 4,000 tons.

It’s 1953, and a young Queen Elizabeth II, a month before her coronation, is in Scotland to launch the new royal yacht, the Britannia. “I hope this brand-new vessel, like your brand-new queen, will prove to be dependable and constant, capable of weathering any storm,” she declares to great applause.

And so the queen and her ship are inextricably linked as the Netflix TV show fast-forwards to 1991, when questions about costly repairs for the Britannia are presented in parallel to questions about whether the 65-year-old queen is too old for her role.

King Charles III wants to look ahead. ‘The Crown’ drags him back.

There is no missing that this is a narrative device in a series now labeled a “fictional dramatization.” But the episode’s release this week has renewed interest in the history of the royal yacht and ignited a debate about how the British monarch interacted with her government. It also happened to coincide with a modern-day echo of 1991, as new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, facing a recession, sank plans for a replacement royal yacht.

What to know about Britannia, ‘the floating palace’

There is a real Royal Yacht Britannia, and, as in the show, the young queen really did announce its name and christen it with a bottle of Empire wine. (Though not with a self-referential speech.)

The Britannia was the latest in a series of royal yachts dating back to 1660 and King Charles II . In 44 years of service, the ship sailed more than 1 million nautical miles — equivalent to more than 40 circumnavigations of Earth — calling at more than 600 ports in 135 countries and projecting British influence around the world.

The Britannia was used for state visits and receptions, royal family holidays and honeymoons. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton all spent time on board, as did Boris Yeltsin and Nelson Mandela. When civil war broke out in South Yemen in 1986, the yacht was rerouted to help evacuate civilians.

“The Crown” suggests the yacht was the queen’s favorite “home,” cherished even more than Balmoral in the Scottish highlands. Biographers don’t dispute that this could have been true. In his book “Queen of Our Times,” Robert Hardman writes, “There were few places where the Queen would be happier.”

Although served by a crew of 220, the ship was a place where the royal family could relax and escape the watchful eye of the public. Hugh Casson, who designed the interior, once recounted, “the overall idea was to give the impression of a country house at sea.” Prince Philip, the queen’s husband, was fascinated with the birds he saw during voyages in the 1950s and even published a book titled “Birds from Britannia.”

Did the queen lobby for repairs?

The controversial part of “The Crown” portrayal centers on whether the queen actively lobbied Prime Minister John Major for the government to pay for extensive repairs — which could have amounted to inappropriate interference in politics by a constitutional monarch.

She says in the show: “Here I am, coming to you, prime minister, on bended knee, for the sign-off, but I’m hoping that will be a formality.”

The character of Major, who was prime minister during a tough recession, responds by suggesting the royal yacht is “something of a luxury” and that spending public money on it while the economy is in the tank would not be good for the government or the royal family.

The queen persists, arguing that the yacht is “a central and indispensable part of the way the crown serves the nation” and “a floating, seagoing expression of me.”

The queen-ship metaphor is dragged out in a later conversation, when the character of Prince Charles — impatient to be king — tells Major about the Britannia: “Sometimes these old things are too costly to keep repairing.”

So did any of that actually take place?

The real-life Major has called the show’s imagined conversations “a barrel-load of nonsense.”

Robert Lacey, a historical consultant on “The Crown,” defended the depiction. He told The Washington Post that the subject of the yacht would have inevitably come up between the queen and the prime minister, who met once a week to discuss matters of state.

“She certainly spoke about it to the prime minister,” Lacey said. “Obviously, the royal family would have lobbied for it. The queen did want another royal yacht.”

Hardman, the royal biographer, insisted that while the queen no doubt would have been interested in repairs or a replacement, she would not have “leaned on her prime ministers for money.”

In a letter written in 1994, later stored in the National Archives, the queen’s deputy private secretary Kenneth Scott wrote to the cabinet office that “the Queen would naturally very much welcome it if a way could be found of making available for the nation in the 21st century the kind of service which Britannia has provided for the last 43 years.”

Scott noted, however, that “the question of whether there should be a replacement yacht is very much one for the government” and “the last thing I should like to see is a newspaper headline saying ‘Queen Demands New Yacht.’”

The Times of London headline when the letter was uncovered in 2018: “ I want a new yacht, Queen told Whitehall in secret letter .”

What happened to the Britannia?

Major’s government wasn’t swayed by arguments to repair or renew the ship. Even with a retrofit costing an estimated 17 million pounds, the Britannia would be expensive to run and hard to maintain. It was hard to justify when air travel was a readily available alternative for royal trips and trade missions.

The yacht’s final voyage abroad was to Hong Kong in 1997, when the territory was handed back to China. A few months later, the Britannia undertook a farewell tour of Britain, calling at six major ports and blasting its sirens as it passed the shipyard that built it, before returning for a decommissioning ceremony in Portsmouth, England on Dec. 11, 1997. The ship’s clocks were stopped. The Royal Marines band played. Lacey noted: “The only time the queen was seen to cry was when the royal yacht was de-commissioned.”

The ship is now a visitor attraction site in Edinburgh, Scotland. On the day of the queen’s state funeral in September, a lone piper played a lament on the deck.

What about plans for a replacement royal yacht?

The possibility of a replacement yacht gained some traction during the 1997 general election, but the incoming Labour government nixed the idea.

More than two decades later, as part of a campaign to promote a reinvigorated “Global Britain” in the aftermath of Brexit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson proposed a new royal yacht . There was a push to name the ship after Prince Philip, who died last year, though it would be more for the government than for the royal family. In Johnson’s vision, the ship would tour the world as a “floating embassy,” where officials would host summits and cement trade deals. It would cost an estimated 250 million pounds to build, plus 30 million pounds a year to run.

But once again, the economic climate is not favorable for big yacht projects. The new Sunak administration announced this week that it was terminating the royal yacht plan and would instead procure a surveillance ship that could protect energy cables and other infrastructure. The prime minister’s spokesman said it was “right to prioritize at a time when difficult spending decisions need to be made.”

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A Sombre Farewell

On 23 June 1994, John Major's Government announced there would be no refit for HMY Britannia as the costs would be too great. After a long and successful career spanning 44 years and travelling over 1 million miles around the globe, it was announced that the last Royal Yacht was to be decommissioned.

There was no immediate decision about a replacement, but the question of a new Royal Yacht became a political issue in the run up to the 1997 General Election. After the election, the new Labour Government eventually confirmed in October 1997 there would be no replacement for Britannia . 

Final Voyage

On 20 October 1997, HMY Britannia left Portsmouth on her farewell tour around the UK. This was a clockwise circumnavigation of Britain, calling at six major ports, including Glasgow. As she sailed past John Brown's Shipyard, she gave a blast on her sirens, in fond farewell to the yard which had proudly built her.

Day of Decommissioning

It was a sad day when the Royal Family finally bid farewell to a ship that had so faithfully served her family and her country for over forty years. All the clocks on Britannia were stopped at 15:01, the time Queen Elizabeth II was piped ashore for the last time. This was one of the few occasions Queen Elizabeth II publicly shed a tear as The Band of HM Royal Marines played the highly emotive 'Highland Cathedral.'

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What Happened To The Royal Yacht Britannia?

By Elise Taylor

The Crown season five begins and ends with the same plot point: The Royal Yacht Britannia. The vessel serves as a – fairly obvious – metaphor in the first episode, where Imelda Staunton’s Queen Elizabeth describes it as “a floating, seagoing version of me.” The problem with her metaphorical marine self? It’s in desperate need of multi-million pound repairs. 

She asks British prime minister John Major, played by Jonny Lee Miller, whether the government might be able to help foot the bill. He, in turn, asks if the royal family might front the cost, given the public pushback they both might receive if such a seemingly extravagant project was approved. In the final episode of the season (a note to the reader: spoilers will follow), Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth agree to decommission the yacht after Prince Charles’s trip to Hong Kong.

The Crown is known for taking much of its plot material from real-life events. In the case of the Royal Yacht Britannia, though – what really happened to the boat, and how much political controversy did it really cause?

To go back to the beginning, King George VI first commissioned the royal yacht that would become the Britannia in 1952. It was an exciting project, as the previous official boat had belonged to Queen Victoria, and was rarely used. Then, during the early 20th century, England was mostly at war, and making a massive, slow-sailing luxury ship would be a massive security risk in international waters. 

The Royal Yacht Britannia, George decided, should both be an extravagant vessel and a functional one, able to double as a hospital if times of war were to arise again. In 1953, the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth christened the ship with a bottle of wine, as champagne was still seen as too extravagant post-war. In 1954, she set sail for the first time.

The Royal Yacht fulfilled many functions, most of them leisurely. Over the years, the boat hosted four royal honeymoons, including that of Princess Diana and Prince Charles, as well as many family vacations. In 1969, after his investiture as the Prince of Wales, Charles hosted an intimate party on board to celebrate. (Newspapers at the time wrote that he danced with his dear friend Lucia Santa Cruz – the very person who eventually introduced him to Camilla Parker Bowles.)

By Radhika Seth

By Ana Morales

By Ellie Pithers

It also served as a grandiose mode of transport for many royal visits. In 1959, for example, Britannia sailed to Chicago to celebrate the recently opened St Lawrence seaway in Canada, and President Eisenhower joined her on board. Twenty years later, she sailed to Abu Dhabi for her first official visit to the United Arab Emirates, where she held a grand dinner for Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

And although Queen Elizabeth's reign was not during wartime, the royal yacht did execute a humanitarian mission, as King George VI had always planned for: In 1986, it sailed to Aden to evacuate over 1,000 refugees from the civil war in Yemen.

The New York Times once described the 412-foot Britannia as “an ordinary yacht what Buckingham Palace is to the house next door.” It wasn’t an exaggeration – Britannia was essentially a floating palace. It had a drawing room, a dining room, two sitting rooms, as well as galleys and cabins for all the officers. The stateroom interiors were just as ornate as any other royal estate, while the bedrooms – which all had their own bathrooms and dressing rooms – were designed to feel surprisingly personal. 

“Within the royal apartments, however, the regal elegance gives way to the homey, patched elbow chic of an English country house, with flowered chintz slipcovers, family photographs, and rattan settees, interspersed with the occasional relic of Empire – shark’s teeth from the Solomon Islands here, a golden urn commemorating Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar there,” the New York Times found when it boarded the ship in 1976.

The cost of running Britannia was always an issue. Politicians raised questions about its financial value as far back as 1954, when two MPs lobbied for an investigation on why the yacht’s refurbishment would cost £5.8 million, accusing the royal family of waste and extravagance. A government committee later dismissed the accusations. In 1994, the Conservative government ruled the yacht too costly to refurbish, when repairs came in at a whopping 17 million, but then briefly walked back on their decision a few years later. 

However, when Tony Blair’s Labour government won the election, and the new government once again declined to pay for Britannia. Britannia’s final journey was to far-flung Hong Kong in 1997, as Prince Charles turned over the British colony back to the Chinese at the end of Britain’s 99-year lease. When they finally decommissioned the boat that summer, the queen cried – one of the few times she’s shown emotion in public. The boat had logged over one million nautical miles.

Today, Britannia sits permanently docked in Edinburgh. Visitors can take tours of its grand galleys, or even rent it out for events. Yet, despite its retirement, the concept of the royal yacht lives on: In 2021, Boris Johnson floated the idea of a new boat. However, a mere eight days ago, Rishi Sunak has scrapped the project – showing that, even now, the concept remains a controversial one.

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When was the Royal Yacht Britannia decommissioned? Where it is moored now and the history of the ship

The yacht is now a permanent visitor attraction in port leith, edinburgh.

Season five of The Crown starts in 1991 with the fictional Queen all-but-demanding a new Royal Yacht from then-Prime Minister John Major.

The luxurious yacht was a mainstay for Elizabeth II and Prince Philip , and comfortably carried the royals and dignitaries across the globe between 1953 and 1997.

King Charles II first launched the idea that a personal boat was essential for a ruling monarch, and by the time Elizabeth II acceded to the throne the Royal Yacht had evolved into a vessel of opulence, designed for long journeys and luxurious holiday cruises.

The Royal Yacht Britannia had spacious cabins, an onboard car garage, sun lounge, drawing room, plush bedrooms and amenities for 220 crewmembers (including several bars and pubs).

What happened to the Royal Yacht Britannia?

The first episode of the new season of The Crown shows the Queen lobbying for a new boat to replace the out-dated Royal Yacht Britannia. However, the replacement vessel never came to fruition.

In 2018, The Times reported that the Queen had “secretly lobbied Whitehall” in 1995, when senior Buckingham Palace official, Sir Kenneth Scott, wrote to the Cabinet Office saying that the Queen would “very much welcome” a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia.

The letter, found in the National Archive, said: “I have deliberately taken a back seat in recent correspondence, since the question of whether there should be a replacement yacht is very much one for the Government and since the last thing I would like to see is a newspaper headline saying ‘Queen Demands New Yacht’.

“At the same time I hope it is clear to all concerned that this reticence on the part of the palace in no way implies that Her Majesty is not deeply interested in the subject; on the contrary, the Queen would naturally very much welcome it if a way could be found of making available for the nation in the 21st Century the kind of service which Britannia has provided for the last 43 years.”

The Queen was later photographed crying as the boat moored in Portsmouth after its final journey.

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When was the Royal Yacht Britannia decommissioned?

Despite the monarch’s love of the yacht, Britannia was decommissioned in 1997 after Tony Blair was voted into power.

However, Boris Johnson imagined a new Royal Yacht to replace Britannia . The project was later scrapped – making it the fourth plan of his to have been axed at a total cost of more than £51m to the British taxpayer.

Rishi Sunak abandoned plans for the flagship, which would have been used to drive trade deals in the post-Brexit Britain , as he embarked on an agenda of cutting spending in the Autumn Statement .

Building the ship, which was set to launch by the end of 2024, would have cost in the region of £250m.

Where is the Royal Yacht Britannia now?

The yacht is now a permanent attraction in Port Leith, Edinburgh, and welcomes up to 300,000 visitors a year.

There was controversy over the siting of the ship, with some arguing that it would be better moored on the River Clyde, where it was built, than in Edinburgh. However, the ship’s positioning in Leith coincided with a redevelopment of the harbour area, and the advent of Scottish devolution.

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By Julie Miller

The Crown ’s long-awaited fifth season opens with a surprise flashback to Queen Elizabeth, played by Claire Foy , christening the Royal Yacht Britannia to cheers of jubilation in 1954, the year after she was coronated at the age of 27. The season premiere, “Queen Victoria Syndrome,” then jumps forward almost four decades to introduce the franchise’s latest iteration of the aging monarch, played by Imelda Staunton, shortly after she was called “irrelevant, old, expensive, and out-of-touch” by her once-adoring constituents in 1991. How far the crown has fallen in favorability. 

Facing her advancing years, her nation’s yearning for modernity, and a global recession—not to mention a slew of forthcoming scandals involving her family members—this new chapter will not be a cheery one for our queen, the season premiere portends. And her first heartbreak abruptly arrives in the form of the Royal Yacht Britannia, which—with its operational price tag of about  $18 million a year, and its need for expensive improvements—seems simply too lavish and impractical an expense for the public to keep footing.

Nevertheless, the queen makes a plea in an audience with Prime Minister John Major ( Jonny Lee Miller ) for additional financing. “All of my palaces were inherited,” the queen explains, in one of the least relatable sentences the character has ever uttered. “They all bear the stamp of my predecessors. Only Britannia I’ve truly been able to make my own….From the design of the hull to the smallest piece of china, she is a floating, seagoing expression of me.”

The Royal Yacht Britannia leaving Portsmouth, England, with the royal family on board for its traditional cruise around the western isles of Scotland on August 7, 1997.

The actual 412-foot royal yacht—built to replace its predecessor, the Victoria and Albert —was a real-life delight for Queen Elizabeth and the backdrop for many happy family memories. The construction of the vessel came at a tricky time for the royals, shortly after Elizabeth became queen at an unexpectedly young age and Philip was forced to give up his naval career, surname, and identity. Britannia became something of a release valve for Philip, who had served as a commander in the royal navy, and was able to oversee the design of the yacht’s technical features. The queen, meanwhile, handpicked the chintz fabrics and details down to the doorknobs and lampshades. It was the one home that Elizabeth and Philip had a true hand in designing, and was outfitted with a bolted-down piano for evening singalongs, framed family photos, travel mementos from around the globe, and a sundeck outfitted with wicker furniture. 

Given that the queen and Philip used the yacht during their far-reaching commonwealth tours, the floating palace also featured formal accommodations fit to entertain 13 U.S. presidents, including the Eisenhowers, the Fords, the Reagans, and the Clintons. In addition to a grand staircase, silver and crystal tableware, and a wine cellar, Britannia featured a state dining room large enough to accommodate 100 that could be converted into a private cinema.

The complete privacy that the ship afforded is one reason why the queen famously described it as “the one place where I can truly relax.” According to Sally Bedell Smith’s biography Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch, the queen even tucked away her trademark skirts and dresses while aboard. “It was one of the few times when the Queen wore trousers other than on horseback or while participating in field sports, mainly so that she could easily (and modestly) go up and down the ladders and onto launches when they went ashore on deserted beaches for picnics,” wrote Smith. The Britannia offered the queen other opportunities to play at informality, too. For instance, the seaman aboard did “not wear their caps at sea, which means the seamen are technically out of uniform and not required to salute, enabling the Queen to walk around the vessel without formal recognition,” reported The New York Times in 1983, adding that the seamen did their best to act invisible around the monarch. “They have been trained to execute orders on the upper deck, where the Queen’s private quarters are situated, without spoken words or commands.”

The yacht was also a physical reminder of some cherished moments for the family. In 1954, the ship’s maiden voyage reunited the queen and Philip with their young children, Charles and Anne, after nearly 18 months apart from them. (“The ice broke very quickly and we have been subjected to a very energetic routine and innumerable questions which have left us gasping!” the queen told her mother.) Beginning in the 1960s, the royal family began an annual tradition of cruising through the western Isles of Scotland en route to Balmoral for the holidays—stopping off for picnics and a visit to the Queen Mother at the Castle of Mey. There was a water slide that family members would happily hurl themselves down, and humorous performances put on by the yacht’s staff. (The former yacht chef recently recalled the queen and Philip “absolutely laughing their heads off at the stupid antics we got up to” during his 16 years aboard.) When Anne turned 21, she reportedly celebrated with a party in the State Dining Room, which had been converted into a dance hall complete with a dance floor. 

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Inside the queen's private sitting room cabin with a miniature telephone switchboard on the desk.

The royal family would travel aboard the vessel for weeks and even months at a time as it toured the commonwealth countries. Philip once spent four consecutive months on Britannia during a 1956 tour that took him from Australia to the British bases in the Antarctic. (“We have fabulous parties when the Queen’s away and the Duke’s on board,” an indiscreet crew member confessed in 1976.) These trips were supported by a staggeringly large staff—220 yachtsmen who lived, slept, and worked aboard as well as about 45 royal-household staff members and occasionally a 26-member “contingent of the Royal Marines band to serenade foreign dignitaries,” per the L.A. Times. The yacht was also large enough to carry various other modes of transport, including a royal barge, two medium-speed motorboats, a pair of 14-foot sailing dinghies, plus a Range Rover, and Rolls-Royce for transportation on land.

Given the sheer scale of the floating-palace operation, it did not come as a complete shock in 1993 when Labour members of Parliament pointed out that the Britannia was the most expensive line item on the royal travel budget, totaling about $18 million a year in upkeep. The politicians underscored how unnecessary the yacht was by reporting that the ship—which had already incurred $150 million in remodeling and repairs—had been used for only 31 days in 1991.

With a heavy heart, the queen agreed to decommission the yacht in 1997 after 43 years of use and over a million miles traveled. “In the end, Britannia had come to symbolize politically incorrect extravagance and privilege at public expense, and the Queen told the government she was prepared to give it up,” wrote Smith in her biography of Elizabeth. But before the decommissioning service in Portsmouth, the royal family and courtiers went aboard for a final lunch in the State Dining Room and a tour of the vessel—her “country house at sea”—that had served the queen so well. An account of the emotional farewell is included in Smith’s biography of the queen:

“It was awful and she cried,” said one of her courtiers. The quayside service, conducted by naval chaplains and attended by 2,200 former Britannia officers and yachtsmen, was seen by a television audience of millions. As the band of the Royal Marines marched away, they played ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and saluted the yacht one final time. The queen, dressed in red, raised a black-gloved hand to her eye and wiped away a tear. Some commentators in the press criticized her for weeping over a mere ship. But to the Queen and her family, Britannia held decades of memories. “It had not just been for work,” said a lady-in-waiting. “It had been their floating home.” More than anything, the royal yacht “represented freedom to her,” said one of the Queen’s relatives.

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The rare times the late Queen was moved to tears in public - see emotional photos

The monarch has welled up on the rare occasion.

The Queen  dedicated her life to royal service, and over the years developed a steadfast and resolute public persona. In times of great adversity, she steadied the nation with her unwavering strength and stoicism and is regarded worldwide as the epitome of a true leader.

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But the late monarch did show emotion on rare occasions, one of which has now been featured in  The Crown . Her Majesty was seen in tears when Prime Minister John Major told her the Royal Yacht Britannia would be decommissioned. Although we won't know if the Queen cried when she learnt of the moment, but see was seen in tears at the ceremony.

As the moment features in  The Crown ,  HELLO!  looks back at all the times the Queen showed emotion in public life.

WATCH: Royal family releases footage from the Queen's childhood

Aberfan – 1966

In October 1966, tragedy hit the coaling mining village of Aberfan, South Wales, when a colliery spoil tip located directly above the village slid downhill. The devastating event resulted in the death of 144 people, 116 of whom were children. One day after the final victim was recovered from the debris, the Queen and Prince Philip travelled to pay their respects to the deceased and their loved ones.

It was later reported that waiting eight days to visit was one of the monarch's biggest regrets, but she appeared visibly moved as she walked around the site of the tragedy with her husband. "I think she felt in hindsight that she might have gone there a little earlier. It was a sort of lesson for us that you need to show sympathy and to be there on the spot, which I think people craved from her," said Sir William Heseltine, who worked in the royal press office at the time of the tragedy.

MORE: Princess of Wales to honour the late Queen with touching service - details

The Queen and Prince Philip pictured on their visit to Aberfan

The Queen's visit to Aberfan was put under the spotlight once again in season three of The Crown . Many criticised the portrayal of the monarch, who is told in one scene to "display emotion". Actress Olivia Colman , who stars as the monarch, later voiced the line: "I dabbed a bone-dry eye and by some miracle no one noticed."

However, viewers were less than impressed by the "cold-hearted" portrayal of the Queen, with one tweeting: "Shame on the #TheCrown's producers! It's ridiculous how they portrayed the Queen as unfeeling during the Aberfan disaster. There's a video on YouTube of her visit and she is clearly upset."

Harold Wilson's then-press secretary Joe Haines also commented on the narrative that the Queen was faking her tears at Aberfan: "Anyone who saw her at The Cenotaph knows that," he said, calling the show's narrative "absolute nonsense".

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The Decommissioning of Royal Yacht Britannia – 1997

The Queen famously shed a tear when she attended the decommissioning of the Royal Yacht Britannia during a ceremony in Portsmouth in 1997. Overcome with emotion, she was seen wiping her eyes as her beloved yacht was taken out of service after 22 years.

The Queen had a deep personal affection for the vessel, which she had herself launched in April 1953. It carried the monarch and her family on a number of occasions, on both official and private family voyages. She transported Princess Anne and the then- Prince Charles to Malta in order for them to meet up with the Queen and Prince Philip at the end of their Commonwealth Tour, and Charles and Princess Diana took their honeymoon cruise on the Britannia in 1981.

During her career as Royal Yacht, Britannia conveyed the Queen, other members of the royal family and various dignitaries on 696 foreign visits and 272 visits in British waters.

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The monarch wipes away a tear at the decommissioning of the Royal Yacht Britannia

The Royal Britannia is now a visitor attraction moored in the historic Port of Leith in Edinburgh, Scotland. The clocks on board are stopped at 3:01, the time that the Queen last disembarked the vessel. In July 2011, it once again welcomed the royal family when a drinks reception was held on board for Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall to celebrate their upcoming wedding.

Field of Remembrance – 2002

The Queen was moved to tears as she attended the opening of the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey in 2002. It was an especially poignant visit as she took on her late mother's role at the ceremony, held in memory of Britain's war heroes.

The open-air service was rarely missed by the Queen Mother , and she had taken part in the ceremony in 2001, shortly before her death in March. Tears rolled down the Queen's face during a minute's silence after she planted a small wooden cross in remembrance.

Following that, there was a walkabout around the churchyard to inspect some of the 19,000 crosses from all over the country which pay tribute to the fallen. The Queen then attended a short service in St Margaret's Church.

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Attending the opening of the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey in 2002

A service for fallen soldiers of Duke of Lancaster regiment – 2016

The Queen became visibly emotional during a moving service for the fallen soldiers of the Duke of Lancaster regiment in 2016.

The monarch had just returned to her seat having unveiled a statue in memory of members of the regiment who have died since it was formed in 2006. The Queen has a deep personal attachment to the Duke of Lancaster regiment. She is its colonel-in-chief and it is also named after her. The Duke of Lancaster is one of the titles bestowed upon the sovereign.

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A tear rolls down the Queen's cheek at a service for fallen soldiers of the Duke of Lancaster regiment

With some 250 guests looking on, including soldiers severely injured in Afghanistan and the families of those killed in battle, a solitary tear could be seen rolling down her right cheek. The Queen was seen discreetly wiping it away with her gloved hand before managing to regain her composure. For a few moments afterwards, she closed her eyes. During the ceremony, she had laid a wreath with a simple message: "In memory of the glorious dead. Elizabeth R."

Remembrance Sunday service – 2019

The monarch pictured at the 2019 Remembrance Sunday service

The Queen was seen wiping away a tear during the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in 2019 as Britain fell silent to honour Britain’s war heroes. The monarch, dressed in sombre black, was joined by the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duchess of Cambridge on the balcony above the Whitehall memorial for the annual ceremony. She looked on as her son Prince Charles placed the first wreath of red poppies on the Whitehall memorial; the Queen last performed the same duty in 2016.

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In Photos: Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister John Major

Major recalled of his meetings with the late monarch, "there was a great deal of amusement in them, there was a great deal of humour in them, there was a great deal of gossip in them."

Major continued, "I think people would have been extraordinarily surprised if they realised the depth of information the Queen had about the lives of people in every conceivable part of the United Kingdom. She was always extraordinarily well briefed. And on foreign affairs, she would always say if there was a difficulty of a foreign leader, 'Well I met him many years ago' or 'I knew his father'. There was always a wise word to be had. And those meetings with the Queen were always the better part of a prime minister's week."

Major's time as Prime Minister is a focus on the new season of The Crown , but his relationship with the Queen extended past his time as PM. In 2005, Queen Elizabeth appointed him as a knight in the Companion of the Order of the Garter, and in 2012, he became chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust. In addition, Major was appointed "special guardian" to Princes William and Harry following the death of Princess Diana, and he was the only politician to attend Prince Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle.

Here, see photos of Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister John Major through the years.

John Major became prime minister in November 1990. "The Queen beyond doubt is the best known woman in the world," he would later recall , "and then suddenly behind that enormous façade that exists because of her position, you see the private woman who lurks behind it and that's a rather lovely thing to see." Here, he is pictured center in the back row at the G7 Summit in London.

Major sits next to Princess Diana at a dinner for former prime ministers. During her reign, Queen Elizabeth worked with fifteen prime ministers.

Back row, left to right : James Callaghan, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath. Front row , left to right: John Major, Diana, Princess of Wales, Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Margaret Thatcher.

John Major was prime minister during the Queen's annus horribilis and supported her through that "horrible year." Here, the Queen is picturing giving the famous speech—"1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an annus horribilis ." Major sits two seats over from the Queen.

Here, Major sits behind Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip aboard the Eurostar on the inauguration of the Eurotunnel.

In 1994, the UK government decided to sell the royal yacht Britannia ; Queen Elizabeth famously once described the yacht as "the one place I can truly relax." Here, the Queen is pictured on the Britannia with Prince Philip, Majors (second left), and her sister, Princess Margaret.

For a banquet celebrating the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip (center) are pictured with John Major and his wife Norma (right).

During the finals of the Euro 1996 soccer tournament, Queen Elizabeth sat with John Major (right, in glasses) during the finals between the Czech Republic and Germany at Wembley Stadium.

Two years after Major left office in 1997, he was awarded the Companion of Honour by the Queen for his work on the peace process in Northern Ireland in 1999. Here she is presenting him with the award.

John Major is not pictured here, but at the 2005 Service of the Order of the Garter, Queen Elizabeth appointed Major as Knight of the Garter—the oldest order of chivalry in Britain. With the appointment, he became Sir John Major.

During an event at Somerset House in London, the Queen spoke with Sir Major. They would interact many times over the next decade, as Major took on a role as chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust—formed in 2012 to support charities across the Commonwealth.

Major and the Queen during a Commonwealth Day Reception at Marlborough House.

Queen Elizabeth poses with current and former prime ministers. From left to right: David Cameron, John Major, Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown.

Major and the Queen share a moment during a reception for the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust at Buckingham Palace.

Queen Elizabeth shakes hand with John Major at a reception at Buckingham Palace to celebrate The Queen's Young Leaders program. Note David Beckham on the far right of the photograph.

The same day, Queen Elizabeth and Major welcomed winners of the Queen's Young Leaders award at the Palace. The Queen carried her signature handbag.

Once again, the Queen, Major, and David Beckham. Beckham presented the Queen's Young Leaders Awards in 2015 and 2016.

Major later recalled that the Queen's corgis were always present during their meetings. "They were well behaved but not invariably. From time to time the Queen would speak very sharply to one of the corgis," he remembered . "If the corgi came round and was indicating an interest on jumping on your lap or deciding to make a meal of your toe, the Queen would gently discipline the dog and it would be moved away."

Once again at the Queen's Young Leaders Awards Ceremony, Majors and the Queen pose together. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry were also part of the Awards in 2018.

The last photograph taken of the Queen and Major—on a visit to Kings College, to open Bush House in central London.

Last, Major was a guest at the Queen's state funeral.

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma , a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram .

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Among 'The Crown's Talented Ensemble, Jonny Lee Miller Stands Out as John Major

Britain's most forgettable prime minister stands out in The Crown thanks to Miller's performance.

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 5 of The Crown. One of the most fascinating themes that The Crown has tackled in its five seasons is the complex (and occasionally fraught) relationship between the political leadership of Great Britain and the Royal Family. While the Royal Family has little actual political power, they have the ability to change public opinion and influence the electorate. This poses a challenge to each Prime Minister that meets with Queen Elizabeth ( Imelda Staunton ). How do you talk with someone who has been adjusted to a position of influence for their entire life, but performs a ceremonial role? In Season 5, Prime Minister John Major ( Jonny Lee Miller ) gets thrust into the middle of a royal strife when the family’s scandals become the subject of tabloid reports from 1990 to 1997.

The Crown has certainly brought to life some of the most famous politicians in British history. Both John Lithgow and Gillian Anderson won Emmy awards for playing Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, respectively. These are larger-than-life historical icons with dominant, memorable mannerisms. Miller had the challenge of portraying a plain-spoken politician adverse to anything sensational. With his combination of empathy and subtle humor, Miller delivers one of the standout performances in a stacked ensemble cast.

What makes Major interesting is that he is being adjusted to these seismic shifts in the culture at the same time that the audience is. He’s aware that the Queen is a cultural icon of no comparison, and he’s nervous about making any attempts to modernize the monarchy without offending the Royal Family. He simply pays attention to the nation’s demands without taking away its traditions, and he’s shocked when he becomes thrust into the middle of the “Dianagate” scandal. Regardless of Major’s political positions, the inclusion of his perspective in Season 5 deepens our understanding of the monarchy’s influence.

John Major Has Big Shoes to Fill

Miller shows the difficult situation that he is in from his first scene in the episode “ Queen Victoria Syndrome ”. Major performs his duty of taking an initial meeting with the Queen, and he knows that she’s done this several times already. As an audience, we know that the Queen has seen the reign of many Prime Ministers, and Elizabeth even reminds Major of the fact in order to hammer home the point. Although Miller is able to embody Major’s discomfort, it presents an interesting question about his duties. How is he able to look the Queen in the eye and tell her that there are going to be changes?

Of course, the meeting immediately goes off on a wrong note when Miller informs the Queen that the Royal Yacht Britannia can not be paid for by the public. While this is something that Major realizes will be a challenge, he doesn’t realize that the Queen will take it as a personal offense. Major shows remorse about his comments during a conversation with Prince Charles ( Dominic West ), but he gets mixed signals when Charles mentions that he thinks that Major’s initial suggestion was on point. We see all the different parties that try to influence him in a sequence where Major attends the Ghillies Ball. As various members of the Royal Family approach him and discuss their hardships, Major realizes he’s going to be playing the family therapist to the most famous bloodline in the world.

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Jonny Lee Miller's John Major Acts As the Audience Avatar

A critical conversation between Major and his wife, Norma ( Flora Montgomery ) addresses the central theme of the season; we’re witnessing history unfold, as the Royal Family has never been the subject of such intense public controversy. Major is the audience’s avatar as he reacts to the various news reports that emerge. He reacts with embarrassment to the “Camillagate” leaked phone call , and he responds with pure horror to Diana’s ( Elizabeth Debicki ) Panorama interview. While some viewers may have witnessed these events in their lifetimes, Major’s perspective shows the reaction from a public relations angle.

However, the Queen does notice that Major seems to be the only reasonable voice in the room, and asks him to help ask as an intermediary during Charles and Dianas’ divorce settlement. Major is nervous about taking part, but he realizes that balance is what the country needs at this point. Season 5 does a pretty good job of balancing Charles and Diana's perspectives, and Major is the perfect person to thrust into the middle of the situation. He doesn’t have a strong attachment to either party, and he simply wants to see this crisis come to a conclusion. Miller even adds a comic edge to his performance as Major reflects on how unprecedented this situation is.

Major’s Influence on the Country Is Not Felt, But His Influence on the Crown and the Royal Family Is

The Crown doesn’t make a firm assessment of Major’s effectiveness, but we do get to feel empathy for him when he loses his reelection campaign to Tony Blair ( Bertie Carvel ). He makes a heartfelt confession to the Queen that despite the polls indicating otherwise, he did allow himself to think that he had a chance at victory. Even if he’s being replaced by a younger, more dynamic leader, Major’s contributions are not erased from the Queen’s mind. Her comment that Major would rank “very highly” in her personal list of Prime Ministers feels like the show’s subtle way of thanking Miller for his role.

What makes the season so fascinating is that Major’s politics are barely mentioned. While this could have felt like the show’s way of dismissing Major’s conservative positions, it’s almost ironic that no one seems to care about what he actually intends to do with his office. The more pressing concerns of the nation are set aside as questions about the future of the monarchy are raised. Regardless of his attempts to encourage change, Major realizes that he will never be more than a footnote in British history.

It’s fitting that an actor as underrated as Miller steps into the role of an undervalued participant in history. While he was the star of 1990s cult hits like Trainspotting and Hackers , he’s been largely absent from projects of this prestige outside his starring role as Sherlock Holmes in Elementary . Miller has a cheeky sense of humor and personality that makes him unique. While the attention this season will likely be paid to Staunton, West, and Debicki, Miller’s underrated work shouldn’t be overlooked as one of Season 5’s best.

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How Royal divorces made John Major dither over replacing the Royal Yacht Britannia

• Major administration was concerned at public anger over cost of a new vessel
• Debate began after marriages of Prince Charles and Prince Andrew fell apart
• In March 1996, Sir John's private secretary, Alex Allan, described rationale
• PM did not feel it was 'the right time' to take a decision on a new Royal Yacht 

By Jake Ryan For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 17:53 EDT, 2 January 2021 | Updated: 21:36 EDT, 2 January 2021

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John Major dithered over replacing Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia amid fears of a backlash in the wake of two high-profile Royal divorces, newly declassified papers reveal.

Documents from the National Archives show that the Major administration was concerned at potential public anger over the cost of a replacement vessel. 

Widespread debate had opened up about the funding of the Royal Family as the marriages of Prince Charles and Prince Andrew fell apart.

In March 1996, Sir John's private secretary, Alex Allan, described his boss's rationale in a note marked 'Confidential': 'In the light of the current debate about the Royal Family and the Monarchy, the Prime Minister did not feel it was the right time to take a decision on a new Royal Yacht.

John Major dithered over replacing Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia amid fears of a backlash in the wake of two high-profile Royal divorces, newly declassified papers reveal

'The matter should, however, be kept under regular review: once the divorce between the Prince and Princess of Wales had been completed, for example, public sentiment could turn quickly.'

The Government finally decided to replace Britannia from public funding in January 1997, but the plan was reversed by Tony Blair when he was elected to Downing Street four months later. 

The Queen, however, is said to have reserved the largest share of the blame for Sir John, with an official history of the yacht in 2003 pointing the finger at his delay in making a decision.

Sir John later said: 'Ask yourself this question. In the midst of the recession, with the British people facing economic hardship, how popular would it have been to announce a £50 million spend on a new yacht for the personal use of the Royal Family?'

Documents from the National Archives show that the Major administration was concerned at potential public anger over the cost of a replacement vessel

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The 412ft Britannia was launched in 1953 and served the Queen for state visits abroad. 

It was also used by other Royals, including Charles and Diana on their honeymoon.

The vessel is now a tourist attraction in Edinburgh's port of Leith and welcomes 390,000 visitors a year. 

Widespread debate had opened up about the funding of the Royal Family as the marriages of Prince Charles (pictured with Princess Diana) and Prince Andrew fell apart

Successive Prime Ministers, including David Cameron and Boris Johnson, have reportedly considered proposals to commission a new Royal Yacht but the plans have not materialised.

Although Charles and Diana's divorce was not finalised until August 1996, their 'amicable separation' had been announced by Sir John in the Commons in December 1992. 

The marriage between Andrew and Sarah Ferguson was formally dissolved in May 1996, four years after they parted company. 

Share or comment on this article: How Royal divorces made John Major dither over replacing the Royal Yacht Britannia 

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Luxury rules at the moscow yacht show.

by Maria Sapozhnikova

The windy Russian autumn weather might be a little bit tricky for sailing, but it doesn’t stop brave yachtsmen from all over the world from flocking to Russian capital in the beginning of September when the Moscow Yacht Show commences. The main Russian Yacht exhibition gathers professional and amateur yacht lovers together under the wing of The Royal Yacht Club.

This year it took place for a fourth time already. The exhibition is considered the principal event on the sporting and social calendar. The Moscow Yacht Show 2010 united in one area three of the largest Russian yachts distributors: Ultramarine, Nordmarine and Premium Yachts.

A wide range of yachts were on display for a week. An exhibition showcased yachts both from Russian manufacturers and world famous brands: Azimut, Princess, Ferretti, Pershing, Riviera, Doral, Linssen, etc.

It was a real feast for seafarers as visitors of the show had a unique chance not only to take a look at the newest superyachts before they hit the market, but also to evaluate their driving advantages during the test drive. The show provided an excellent opportunity for yacht enthusiasts to choose and buy a new boat for the next season.

The event started with the grandiose gala evening. It included grand dinner, the concert and professional awards ceremony for achievements in Russian yachting industry. The guests also enjoyed the annual regatta.

Special guest Paolo Vitelli, Azimut Benetti Group president, opened the evening.

Next year organizers assured guests they would bring more yachts, the scale of which will even make oligarch Roman Abramovich envious. Sounds very promising indeed.

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• Moscow Yacht Show 2018

The Moscow Boat Show 2018 took place from the 1st to the 3rd of June, 2018

Moscow Yacht Show 2018 , organized in the best yacht club of the Russian capital Royal Yacht Club, finished successfully. Despite the changeable weather from June 1 to 3 all three days of the exhibition were filled with events.

A lot of customers came to the show.

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Ferretti Yachts and Riva to attend Moscow Boat Show 2013

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To be represented by Premium Yachts, Ferretti Yachts and Riva , two prestigious brands of the Ferretti Group, will be present at the Moscow International Boat Show 2013, displaying motor yacht Ferretti 530 as well as Riva Iseo yacht tender.

Luxury motor yacht Ferretti 530

Luxury yacht Ferretti 530 was very keen to undertake in collaboration once again with AYT – Advanced Yacht Technology, Ferretti Group Engineering Division and Studio Zuccon International Project . The compact dimensions, 16 meters long and almost 5 meters wide, allow the 530 yacht to deliver grand Italian luxury and cruising immersed in such comfort until now unheard of in a yacht of this size.

Ferretti 530 yacht boasts three revolutionary innovations: the full beam master cabin with chaise longue and two large open view windows that make it a real suite at sea level bathed in light, tones and the natural essences of teak. Moving the galley from the center to the aft section creates a unique open space that includes the saloon, galley, cocktail bar and the dining area, the cockpit area continues thanks to the tilting window. The roll bar free sky lounge and the spoiler allow the 530 a sporty appearance combined with elegantly formal lines.

Ferretti 530 Yacht - Interior

Riva , the iconic Ferretti Group brand, presented a new model at the historical Lake d’Iseo shipyards in July 2011. Featuring elegance and ease of transportation as its distinctive characteristics, Iseo superyacht tender , a 27 foot runabout, is destined to become a must-have for those who love cruising on both lakes and the sea, and, most importantly, design enthusiasts. It is also perfect for anyone wishing to enhance their yacht with an exclusive tender that will never go unnoticed.

Riva Iseo superyacht tender

Due to its ease of manoeuvrability and size, Iseo yacht tender is also ideal as a tender for large yachts. Innovative and elegant, it can also guarantee comfort in bad weather conditions. Besides the electrohydraulic bimini top, it was also designed with a waterproof, automobile-style soft top which protects those on board against water and the wind during cruising.

Please contact CharterWorld - the luxury yacht charter specialist - for more on superyacht news item "Ferretti Yachts and Riva to attend Moscow Boat Show 2013".

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