Telling the time while touring the Royal Yacht Britannia is tricky. For every clock on board the late Queen Elizabeth II’s beloved former liner, docked in Leith, Edinburgh, is set in perpetuity at 3.01pm – the precise moment the monarch and Prince Philip disembarked for the final time on December 11, 1997.
But there’s a more pressing date in mind as I arrive at the grand vessel. Last Tuesday marked 100 years since the birth of Queen Elizabeth and this visit is timed to pay homage to the country’s longest serving monarch and mark the centenary.
Now a permanently moored tourist attraction with no official links to the Royal Family, Britannia looks as regal on a blustery spring morning as she must have in 1953 when the Queen christened her.
Performing this act, she cracked a bottle of Empire wine instead of champagne, such was the austerity of post-war Britain.
The Scottish sun glints off her royal blue hull, which carries a red stripe along the waterline and a gold leaf line above. The upper quarters are a crisp white. The funnel is a pale ‘buff’ yellow.
Decommissioned after clocking up a million-plus nautical miles, Britannia saw 44 years of service, offering the royals safe passage to 135 countries and providing ‘a palace at sea’ to host dignitaries.
These included 13 US presidents – the last being Bill Clinton in 1994, and before that, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and Dwight Eisenhower. There was precious family time, too. The Queen said it was ‘the one place where I can truly relax’.
Regal in Leith: The permanently moored Royal Yacht Britannia, voted the Number 1 UK attraction by Tripadvisor last year, gives an insight into the late Queen’s time on board her beloved ‘palace at sea’, which served her for 44 years
An emotive image of Queen Elizabeth, dressed in pillar box red with Prince Philip and the future king by her side at the 1997 decommissioning ceremony of Britannia
The engine room onboard Britannia looks as pristine today as it did during its royal service
Things have changed in some respects since 1997, though. Before tourists walk the ‘Royal Brow’, the red-carpeted gangway, they now pass through a state-of-the-art visitor entrance, where snapshots from life on board flash up on a digital wall.
It’s an engrossing visual amuse bouche. A 1977 photo captures the Queen and Prince Philip waving enthusiastically on deck in Barbados as Concorde flies by.
In another, Charles and Diana are pictured making the Britannia Christmas pudding, the current King pouring brandy as the late Princess of Wales stirs the mixture with an oar.
The one that leaves the biggest lump in the throat? An emotive image of Queen Elizabeth, dressed in pillar box red with Philip and Charles sombre by her side, as she wipes away a tear bidding Britannia farewell for the final time.
Onboard, it really does feel as though time has stood still. Bar perhaps the liberally placed corgi soft toys for the benefit of younger visitors, it’s a porthole on an erstwhile era.
A copy of a 1966 festive menu that will go online later this year when digital archiving has been completed
A state-of-the-art visitor entrance reveals some of the family moments the royals shared on board, including helping to make the famous Britannia Christmas Pudding on ‘Stir it up Sunday’
Life on board: Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh wave as Concorde flies by the Royal Yacht Britannia in Barbados in 1977
It’s easy to envisage the Queen sipping earl grey (splash of milk, no sugar) in the wooden-clad Sun Lounge, her favourite room, where a comfy-looking floral sofa and striped deck chairs would have gifted a serene vantage point.
The room’s switchboard phone system remains on the wall, too, with lines including ‘Equerries Room’, ‘Royal Pantry’ and ‘Priv Sec. Office’.
We glimpse the engine room, a pristine vision of highly polished chrome and white enamel walls.
Then we visit the Queen and Prince Philip’s private cabins. They famously slumbered separately and their respective abodes are surprisingly modest, each with single beds.
More captivating insights into life on board will come later this year when documents including maps, menus, table plans, photo albums and private correspondence will be archived online for royal fans to peruse at leisure.
I meet Eavey Hacker, an Edinburgh University student tasked with creating this digital time capsule, and we leaf through documents being uploaded.
A seating plan, Queen Elizabeth would always sit opposite the late Duke of Edinburgh in the Britannia’s State Dining Room
Edinburgh University student Eavey Hacker (pictured) is responsible for archiving the yacht’s history so members of the public can view the documents online
A personal handwritten note which details the late Queen’s wish to give a young Charles some electric trains
Sister yacht Fingal now operates as a luxury hotel just up the road in Leith
A French-inspired menu from June 1959 as the yacht sailed through North America’s St Lawrence Seaway
There’s a 1972 dinner menu – dishes included ‘Scampi Newburg’ and ‘Poulet Poele Norfolk’ – plus a 1981 voyage map showing passage from Gibraltar to Saudi Arabia.
An undated note between crew members reads: ‘The Queen has some electric trains which she is going to give Charles tomorrow. Would you please contact Mr Bennett and discuss power points etc!’
While the Britannia has hosted her last overnight guests, you can still clink glasses like a royal and hire the historic State Dining Room for a cracking party, just as Princess Anne’s daughter Zara did the night before her 2011 wedding to Mike Tindall.
The Royal Deck, once a space for games and cocktails, is now a tearoom. Or, for a treat, book a room at the Britannia’s elegant sister liner, Fingal, docked a ten-minute walk away.
Once a Northern Lighthouse Board ship, it’s now a five-star hotel with an award-winning restaurant. What an elegant base for those who want to stretch out their Britannia experience a wee while longer – and complete a nostalgic royal pilgrimage.
