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The Royal Yacht Britannia, Ocean Drive, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6JJ

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On the Royal Yacht

Famous faces

Dinner in the State Dining Room

HRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Boarding the Royal Yacht

HRH Prince Charles and Princess Diana

Smiling on board the Royal Yacht

With the Boys

Princess Diana with William & Harry

Working out on board

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In the Engine Room

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Concorde flies over Britannia

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Commonwealth Tour, May 1954

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Fingal, our 23-cabin floating hotel permanently berthed in the historic Port of Leith.

Stay aboard in one of our luxury cabins, Hyskeir.

Ornsay, a luxury duplex cabin set over two floors, united by a spiral staircase.

Fingal’s spectacular Ballroom, with sweeping staircases and a removable skylight, is the perfect venue for any occasion.

The Lighthouse Bar serves afternoon tea, light evening supper and cocktails.

Each of Fingal's 23 stunning cabins are named after Stevenson lighthouses.

Walk through Fingal’s Engine Room with glass flooring and side panels over the industrial engines.

Visiting Britannia

Tripadvisor’s No.1 UK Attraction 2023

Start your tour at our entrance, currently located on the Ground Floor of Ocean Terminal. Please note that tickets purchased in person are by card/contactless only. 

Please pre-book your tickets to guarantee admission.

Click on the Visit page  for more information before you visit.

Step aboard to enjoy a great day out!

Fingal Hotel

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Learn more: fingal.co.uk

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There were also separate listening devices available.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Her sheets were embossed with "HM The Queen."

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

Each room had its own bathroom.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The royal family occasionally dined in the adjoining Wardroom.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The placement of each utensil was measured with a ruler.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What’s the backstory of Britannia ?

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

Who Built the Royal Yacht Britannia ?

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

Who designed the Royal Yacht Britannia ’s interiors?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where is the Royal Yacht Britannia Now?

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

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

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

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

Ship shape: 5 of the world’s most spectacular royal yachts

By Dora Davies-Evitt

The Dannebrog

This Danish royal yacht serves as an official and private residence for the Danish Queen and other members of the royal family when they are on summer cruises in home waters or on official visits overseas. Made in the naval work yard Orlogsvaerftet, Copenhagen, in 1931, the ship was baptised by Queen Alexandrine, the wife of King Christian X. The yacht has a rich history, with many decades of royalty aboard. King Frederick IX is known to have taken his showers on the boat's bridge, hosed down by a member of his team. It has been anchored in almost every port in Denmark, as well as Greenland, the Faroe Islands, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and all the way to the coastline of the US; training around 30 Danish naval conscripts every year. Based on the design of the floating palaces of the XIX century, the Dannebrog is more than just a boat.

By Isaac Bickerstaff

By Harriet Johnston

The largest privately owned super yacht in the world, this 180-metre vessel was built for Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi’s royal family, for use as a day boat to reach his favourite diving grounds. The boat can hold 36 guests and as many as 80 crew members - it also includes a gym, pool and a special ‘golf training room’. It is reported to have cost the sovereign approximately 600 million dollars. Filled with luxury, the engineers apparently worked to ensure that there is as little turbulence as possible, so that the chandeliers don’t tinkle at sea. Its record is soon to be beaten by a new yacht: the REV Ocean. A vessel which, at 183 metres, was designed by Norwegian millionaire Kjell Inge Rokke, and has been created to clean the ocean floors.

HMY Britannia 

HMS Britannia 

Built in 1953 for the late Queen Elizabeth II (who was crowned that same year), after 44 years of service the HMS Britannia was decommissioned and is now on display in Edinburgh. The vast and lavishly designed yacht has sailed over one million miles, accommodating 968 official royal visits. The regal vessel was once described by Queen Elizabeth as ‘the one place where I can truly relax’. The boat boasts dining rooms adorned with gifts from around the world, including a whale rib found by her husband on a beach, as well as a sun lounge with furniture chosen by the queen, and a garage built to house the royal Rolls-Royce. Sir Winston Churchill, Boris Yeltsin, Rajiv Gandhi and Nelson Mandela are among those who have joined the Queen on board over the years. Four royal honeymoons have also taken place aboard, including King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales's 16-day trip to the Mediterranean in 1981.

Le Norge is the pride of the Norwegian royal family, dating back to 1947. In 1905, after the Norwegians became independent from Sweden, they chose Prince Carl of Denmark as their monarch, proposing to him the yacht on his appointment. However, due to the difficult economic situation in Norway after the dissolution of the union with Sweden, King Haakon VII (formerly Prince Carl) did not call upon the Government to provide a yacht. Instead, the yacht was given as a gift from the people of Norway to their king decades later, purchased after the spread of a nationwide collection effort. The ship, which measures 80 metres in length is maintained by the Royal Norwegian Navy and sets sail during the summer months. It suffered a violent fire in 1985 while under maintenance, with only the shell and the motors saved from the incident. The impressive ship has since been entirely reconstructed. 

Owned by Princess Caroline of Hanover, Pacha III has been passed from hand to hand since it was first put on water in 1936, under the name Arlette II. The 36-metre-long boat has had very many owners: in 1940 it was requisitioned by the Royal Navy, when it went back to the Mediterranean coast under the name Priamar. And in the '50s it was bought by French industrialist Louis Renault, who renamed it Briseis. The yacht was then sold to the painter Bernard Buffet, in 1967, who moored it in Saint-Tropez, in front of the ever glamorous L'Escale restaurant. 

In 1990, by now in a depleted state, it was sold to Stefano Casiraghi and Caroline of Hanover, who had it entirely renovated. Casiraghi was never able to enjoy the yacht, however, after he died during a racing accident that same year. It reportedly took more than two years to restore the vessel to its former splendour and renamed Pacha III (in reference to the initials of Princess Caroline’s children). It is now primarily used to take the Hanover Royal Family on extended Mediterranean escapes. 

By Ben Jureidini

Portraits of British royals from last 100 years on show in new London exhibit

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King Frederik and Queen Mary wow on 20th wedding anniversary at Norway gala dinner - best photos

The danish royals were hosted by king harald v and queen sonja.

It marked a very special night for King Frederik and Queen Mary as they stepped out for a gala dinner in Norway on the same day as their 20th wedding anniversary .

Dressed in white-tie attire for the dinner, King Frederik donned his military uniform, while his wife Queen Mary wowed in a lavender gown by Birgit Hallstein, first worn in 2015, and made her debut in the Pearl Poire tiara. 

They were hosted by King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway , as well as Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit , with whom they share a close friendship. Frederik even acted as Haakon's best man at his wedding to Mette-Marit in 2001.

King Frederik and Queen Mary have had a whole day of engagements, arriving at Honnørbryggen in Oslo for an official welcome ceremony on Tuesday morning, travelling by sea on the Royal Ship Dannebrog.

This was followed by a meeting at the royal palace before attending a wreath-laying service to commemorate victims of the Second World War.

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The king and queen then paid a visit to the Norwegian Parliament (Storting) before having lunch at the Royal Palace in Oslo.

The couple were then joined by Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit at Oslo Science City ahead of the state banquet.

See all of the best photos from the glittering dinner…

King Frederik and Queen Mary were the guests of honour as King Harald V and Queen Sonja hosted them at a glittering gala dinner at the Royal Palace in Oslo, with the Norwegian king delivering a speech. 

Harald, 87, has reigned since 1991 and celebrated his Silver Jubilee in 2016. 

The Norwegian and Danish royal families have long shared a close connection, with Queen Margrethe and King Harald being second cousins. 

Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit are also godparents to Queen Mary and King Frederik's eldest son and future king, Crown Prince Christian. 

Frederik and Mary exchanged smiles as King Harald referenced their milestone wedding anniversary in his speech, saying: "Dear Mary, you took on a big task when you went and fell in love with this sporty Dane. You gave up a lot that was safe and familiar. You made Denmark and the Danes your own heartland and heartland. I know that you have also been a great support for our beloved Queen Margrethe.

"Just today the two of you have been married for 20 years - surely that deserves a round of applause? We think it's very nice that you chose to celebrate your wedding anniversary here with us tonight!"

When it was King Frederik's turn to deliver his address, he paid tribute to the two nations' endearing friendship, saying: "Your Majesties, dear Uncle Harald and Aunt Sonja.

"Mary and I always look forward to visiting Norway. We 'enjoy ourselves' with you and the Crown Prince Couple, because we are not just neighbors and colleagues, but family and friends.

"Our countries share values, culture and history, and the Danish-Norwegian ties are as strong as few. Mary and I will do everything in our power, now and in the future, to cherish all that binds us together. "

The Danish and Norwegian royals dined in the palace's Banqueting Hall, where they were joined by more than 200 guests. 

Queen Sonja, who arrived arm-in-arm with King Frederik, looked elegant in a coral-coloured gown with pleated detailing on its voluminous skirt and cape.

Ahead of her arrival at the Royal Palace, Queen Mary was pictured as she stepped off the Royal Ship Dannebrog. For the first time ever, the royal wore the Pearl Poire tiara - a favourite of her mother-in-law Queen Margrethe. 

The Pearl Poire tiara is part of a suite that became synonymous with Queen Margrethe during her 52-year reign. The diamond and pearl headpiece was commissioned as a wedding gift from King Frederich Wilhelm III of Prussia to his daughter, Princess Louise, upon her marriage to Prince Frederick of the Netherlands in 1825.

 Mary looked exquisite in a lavender evening gown by one of her go-to dressmakers, Birgit Hallstein. She first sported the satin dress for Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia's wedding in 2015, and it appears to have been reworked since then, with added sheer sleeves and an organza overlay. 

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King Frederik and Queen Mary hosted a reception on the Royal Yacht Dannebrog

On the evening of May 15, 2024, King Frederik and Queen Mary of Denmark held a reception for the Norwegian Royal Family on the Royal Yacht Dannebrog. King Harald, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit attended Return Reception hosted by King Frederik and Queen Mary on the Royal Yacht Dannebrog. The state visit ended with a farewell ceremony on board "Dannebrog" Royal Yatch.

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24 comments.

(We will not publish anonymous comments that were posted without stating a name or nickname)

Loving all the fashion from this visit! They all are showing well amid the busy schedule and the weather looks perfect. One question, I’ve never seen a car shown in the first photo. Are there three sets of doors…one for the driver plus two more?

I guess it's a Stretch-Limousine ... please search the internet for more ...

All the big brands of cars like Rolls, Mercedes, ... sell cars like that. It is called a limo. Aristocrats, movie stars, musicians, famous hotels, .... they all have (or hire) a car like that to drive (and entertain) their guests from one place to another.

The car is an Audi A8 L Extended 2015 model with a total length of 636 cm and has three doors on each side and two seat rows in the back with very comfortable seats. The car was delivered when the King and Queen celebrated their 25 years anniversary on the throne. You can see pictures here: https://www.tv2.no/broom/sjekk-kong-haralds-nye-luksus-flak/8215642/

That’s an extended limousine. I think other royal families have similar limos too. -B

Now girls (and boys) isn't this off topic? BUT as it's for the 'royals' maybe the off topic can be stretched a bit (like the car) 😊

I always think it's a great sign when a dress looks better on the subject than on the model. Here, it may be that I just prefer Queen Mary's choice of shoes. Either way, pretty dress! Everyone looked very well turned out, and happy to be together.

Apparently the wardrobe teams/planners/advisors/coordinators in both Norway and Denmark did their jobs well and communicated between the two royal houses about who’s going to be wearing what and when. I can imagine there must have been a lot of memos going backward and forwards with details to avoid clashes, embarrassing moments, faux pas. Hope they give each team a bonus for the good synchronisation with the ladies (and gent's) wardrobes.

Q S looks fantastic, like a sister to M and MM!

I think we have seen this lovely dress on Mary before but those shoes would be way too high for me. MM looks smart and Queen S always looks great in a bright color.

MM is wearing a new Pia Tjelta Alice Tinkerbell dress. They all look fab. So nice to see how close they are, and how much they appreciate each other.

They all sens so sooo happy and relaxed with each other

Nice summery dresses on both Queen Mary and CPMM. I am not a fan of prairie dresses but at least these do not have flounces.

Great fashion and love seeing the close relationships during this visit! And, this Zimmermann dress on QM is an excellent example of an otherwise "girly" or "frilly" dress or pattern that still looks stylish and sophisticated because of the shoes and the overall styling and tailoring to body type. We never really see this work out entirely for MM, but I do think we see how it can work well with QM's styling here. -Aloise

Celebrating, dining and dancing!

All of them turn out well and relaxed. Especially the women have particular taste when it comes to their outfits.

Queen Mary and Mette M look very nice and springy. Queen Sonja not so much, the color and shape of her dress clashes with the other ladies' looks.

? Clashes with the others? What are you talking about? Queen Sonja look wonderful!

Its splendid to see Queen Mary in the Zimmermann dress, Australian brand, wonderful. She looks fabulous. Love her shoes. Very elegant and attractive look overall.

Nice looking outfits. css

I like Mary's dress; and her earrings and jewellery,but I think Queen Sonia looks fresh and bright.I dont particularly like Mette's dress a bit old fashioned;even her hair looks boring(Tara)

Q S green dress is very much spring! Great!

De ces dames, c'est la reine Silvia qui est vêtue d'une tenue printanière !

My favourite here is the crown princess’ outfit, but all the ladies look beautiful. T

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Orcas sink sailing yacht in Strait of Gibraltar

An unknown number of orcas have sunk a sailing yacht after ramming it in Moroccan waters in the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain’s maritime rescue service said on Monday, a new attack in what has become a trend in the past four years.

The vessel Alboran Cognac, which measured 15 metres (49 feet) in length and carried two people, encountered the highly social apex predators, also known as killer whales, at 9 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) on Sunday, the service said.

The passengers reported feeling sudden blows to the hull and rudder before water started seeping into the ship. After alerting the rescue services, a nearby oil tanker took them onboard and transported them to Gibraltar.

The yacht was left adrift and eventually sank.

The incident is the latest example of  recurring orca rammings  around the Gibraltar Strait that separates Europe from Africa and off the Atlantic coast of Portugal and northwestern Spain.

Experts believe them to involve a subpopulation of about 15 individuals given the designation “Gladis.”

According to the research group GTOA, which tracks populations of the Iberian orca sub-species, there have been nearly 700 interactions since orca attacks on ships in the region were first reported in May 2020.

Researchers are unsure about the causes for the behaviour, with leading theories including it being a playful manifestation of the mammals’ curiosity, a social fad or the intentional targeting of what they perceive as competitors for their favourite prey, the local bluefin tuna.

Although known as killer whales, endangered orcas are part of the dolphin family. They can measure up to eight metres and weigh up to six tonnes as adults.

Birthday portrait of Princess Kate among unseen royal photos going on display at Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is preparing to unveil previously unseen photos of the royal family in a new exhibition at the King's Gallery.

The display will trace the evolution of royal portrait photography over the last 100 years.

The exhibition begins with a 1923 engagement portrait of Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, who later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

Here's a look at some of the unseen images.

How many photos will be on display?

The exhibition will bring together more than 150 items by 40 photographers from the Royal Collection and Royal Archives.

Exhibition curator Alessandro Nasini said the display tells the royal family's story over the past century.

"We have analogue technology on one side, digital technology (on the other), monochrome, colour and a private commission and the official," Mr Nasini said.

"I think it gives the range … of the exhibition which goes from the very private to the very public, to the official."

Asked about his favourite shot in the collection, Mr Nasini pointed to a 1968 portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth II taken by Cecil Beaton.

The photo shows the former monarch wearing a simple black cape against a stark white backdrop.

He said it "shows the queen, perhaps more as a woman, as the person who came up behind the monarchy".

Princess Catherine's milestone birthday

‌Princess Kate's 40th birthday portrait will be on display.

It will hang near an 1864 portrait of Alexandra, Princess of Wales, that it is said to resemble.

The wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 2011 will also be included.

It shows Prince William and Princess Kate sitting in the throne room at Buckingham Palace after their ceremony.

They are surrounded by their young bridesmaids and page boys, who had to be bribed with jelly beans by photographer Hugo Burnand to capture the image.

It's important to note that this photo has already been released by the royal family — it is not an unseen photograph. However, it will be on display for the first time.

A look back in time

One never-before-seen image from 1964 shows four royal mothers, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, Princess Alexandra and the Duchess of Kent, all holding their newborns.

The picture was taken as a thank you to royal obstetrician Sir John Peel, who delivered all four babies within two months.

Accompanying the image will be a handwritten letter from Princess Margaret to her sister, "Darling Lilibet", asking her to sign the print for them to gift to the doctor.

Other unreleased images in the collection include one from 1943 in which King George VI sits at a desk in the Royal Lodge at Windsor Castle, surrounded by his family.

Taken by Beaton, the image's purpose was to evoke "a sense of stability and hope for the nation" during World War II.

Coronation portraits

The exhibition also displays many iconic photos of Queen Elizabeth II, including her coronation portrait by Beaton.

The black-and-white photo shows the queen in full regalia in the Green Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, in front of a painted backdrop of Westminster Abbey.

King Charles III's official coronation portrait in 2023 will also feature.

The Royal Collection Trust said that the vintage images cannot be on permanent display for conservation purposes.

The exhibition will run from May 17 until October 6.

ABC with wires

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