Royal yacht britain edinburgh audio guide. Yacht Britannia

04.09.2023

Yacht "Britannia" was built in 1951. The yacht belonged to the royal family until 1997. On it, the royal family made official and unofficial visits around the world, and the newlyweds of the royal family spent their honeymoon here. Since 1997, the former symbol of the greatness of the British royal house and fleet has been laid up in the Edinburgh port of Leith and is a museum.
To get on the yacht, you need to take a bus or tram to the Ocean Terminal stop and go through the shopping center, behind which the yacht is hiding... From the shopping center there is a transition to a tower with stairs (part of it is visible in the photo), and from the tower there are transitions to every deck of the yacht. Thus, in order to move between decks, you need to enter the tower each time, go down or up the stairs or the elevator. Thanks to this system, people with disabilities can visit the yacht.

About the first Britain
In 1892, the sailing yacht Britannia was built for Edward, Prince of Wales. She became one of the most famous racing yachts in history. At the end of the first season, she already had 33 victories out of 43 starts.

In 1897, the yacht was sold to a certain J.L. Johnston, who used the yacht as a cruise ship, but after 5 years the yacht returned to the royal family again to King Edward VII, who used the yacht for pleasure trips.

The new owner of the yacht was King George V, during his reign the yacht was laid up during the First World War, but in 1920 the king ordered the restoration of the yacht, for some time she could win races, but by 1935 she was so outdated that she did not win any one race per season. In 1936, King George V died, writing in his will that if none of his sons wanted to go to Britain, it should be destroyed. The yacht was sunk off the Isle of Wight on July 9, 1936.

Recently, the remains of the Britannia yacht were found at the bottom of the sea, and now there is talk about its possible restoration

To avoid confusion between the two Britannias, the first yacht is called "Old Britty".

About a copy of the first Britain
There is a copy of the very first yacht "Britannia". In the early 90s, the Norwegian collector Sigurd Coates ordered the construction of a copy of the Britannia yacht in Arkhangelsk at the Solombala shipyard. Construction lasted 12 years, but when the ship was built, it turned out that the Arkhangelsk shipbuilders and the Norwegian millionaire could not come to a consensus on financial issues and that there was no crane in Arkhangelsk that could launch the yacht. Enterprising shipbuilders even tried to steal the yacht, changing the name from “Britain” to “Tsar Peter”, but the court still sided with the Norwegian businessman and in 2009 the yacht was sent to Norway.

About the second, THIS, Britain
On April 16, 1953, Elizabeth personally participated in the launching ceremony of the new royal yacht. In the pouring rain, Elizabeth said: “I name this ship Britannia.”
The yacht was built in 1953 and served the royal family for 44 years, until 1997. Voyages of more than one million miles have made this yacht the most famous vessel in the world. Queen Elizabeth II traveled around the world on the royal yacht Britannia. 968 official visits were made on this yacht.
In 1997, the Queen agreed to decommission the yacht, as society was opposed to large expenditures on the needs of the royal family, and the yacht needed repairs.

Interesting Facts:

Her Majesty Elizabeth II made her official visit to Russia in 1994 on the Britannia: the royal yacht was solemnly welcomed in St. Petersburg.
Queen Elizabeth was seen crying only three times in her life: at a memorial service for the victims of the World Trade Center attack in New York, at the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Canadian landings in Normandy and when her beloved yacht Britannia was decommissioned.
When Queen Elizabeth chose the name of the yacht, her choice was influenced by several circumstances: the name of her grandfather's old yacht and the fact that it was the name of the naval college at Dartmouth, where she first met her future husband.

So, let's take a look at "Britain"...

At the entrance to the yacht there are photographs from different years in which the yacht or the royal family appears

We're on the top deck

Captain's bridge. The yacht was controlled from here...

Decoding the meanings of signal flags

And here are the flags themselves

View down the lifeboat

When entering the port and sailing, the queen stood on this bridge. The “fence” was made to prevent the queen’s skirt from fluttering in the wind...

Again, memorable photographs hanging on the walls of the passage from one deck to another

Admiral's cabin

Living part of the captain's cabin

The rooms occupied by the royal family begin on this deck

Something is being repaired

A place for the royal family and yacht guests to relax

Queen's bedroom

Nearby is the bedroom that belonged to her husband

And this is the bedroom where Prince Charles and Princess Diana spent their honeymoon

The boat on which the royal family went ashore where the yacht could not moor. Here you can clearly see the system of transitions between decks, made specifically for the convenience of visitors.
And now we will move to the deck, where the officer’s mess, kitchen and rooms for receiving guests of the yacht are located:

Lobby of the officers' wardroom

Officer's mess

The passages intended for service personnel are quite narrow...

Galley where dishes are prepared for the royal table

And another “royal” galley nearby

The dining room where official receptions were held

Living room

..and also a living room

Living room

...and another part of the living room

Senior officers' cabin.
Britannia was the last ship in Her Majesty's fleet where sailors slept in hammocks - they were removed only in 1973

Junior officers' wardroom

Personal lockers for junior officers

And this is already in the premises for the Marines

Marine sleeping quarters

Bar for sailors in the sailor's wardroom

More officers' cabins

Mail

Medical unit, doctor's office

Surgical in the medical unit

Rooms for washing and ironing... all this takes up a lot of space

Collar ironing machine

Ironing press for linen

Washing machines

On the left is a press for ironing collars, and on the right is a press for ironing shirts as a whole.

General purpose press

Press for ironing outerwear

And this is the very bottom, the engine room
The following articles were used in writing this article.

The Royal Yacht Britannia is the former yacht of Her Royal Majesty Elizabeth II. She is the 83rd royal ship since Charles II's Restoration in 1660, and the second ship to bear the name Britannia - the first being the famous racing yacht built for the Prince of Wales in 1893.

Britannia was built at Clydebank Docks in 1953 and launched by Queen Elizabeth II. This is a three-masted yacht, the height of the foremast and mainmast were originally 41 m and 42 m respectively, but their height had to be reduced, which allowed the yacht to pass under river bridges. During the war, the yacht was supposed to become a floating hospital, but the need for this never arose.

During her service life, the yacht covered 1,087,623 nautical miles (2,014,278 km). The Queen and members of the royal family have made 696 foreign visits on the yacht. The yacht made its last official voyage in 1997 - on board Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten and the Prince of Wales returned to the UK after the transfer of Hong Kong to the jurisdiction of China.

There were proposals to lay up the yacht in the Clyde, where it was built, and not in Edinburgh, with which the yacht had little connection. But this coincided with the reconstruction of the port in Leith, and the yacht remained in Edinburgh. The ceremony was attended by Elizabeth II and members of the royal family. Many noticed that, usually so reserved in public, Elizabeth II shed tears when saying goodbye to the ship.

Visitors are allowed onto the yacht and can view the formal dining room, tea room and, through glass, the bedroom. Many visitors note that, despite the status of a royal residence, the yacht looks rather modest, especially compared to the floating palaces of modern nouveau riche. Sometimes various special events are held on the yacht.

I’m starting a series of stories about Her Majesty’s legendary royal yacht. In fact, from 1953 to 1997, this yacht served as board number 1 for the royal family. Over the course of her history, the yacht Britannia has made 696 foreign visits and sailed more than a million nautical miles, which is comparable to 50 revolutions around the equator. In addition to its direct function - navigation, the yacht served as the residence of Queen Elizabeth II on all her foreign visits. I will tell you about the interiors, structure of the yacht and its history in order in my posts about this unique vessel.

Yacht Britannia is one of the most visited places. Now it is a museum located in the port terminal of the Scottish capital. There is a lot of information about the yacht on the Internet, maybe for this reason I was in no hurry with the material. I left it for later. Many bloggers and journalists fit a story about Britain into one post, quickly running through the cabins and halls of the ship. I’m in no hurry, I decided to break the posts into several parts and pay attention to the details of the ship, just like I did a series of posts about.

Yacht Britannia was built at John Brown & Company in Clydebank especially for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and launched on April 16, 1953. In fact, this is the second Royal Yacht Britannia. The first was a racing, sailing yacht built for Edward, Prince of Wales and became the record holder for the number of races won. Its story ended sadly; it was sunk in 1936 according to the will of King George V. But we are not talking about it now.

The second yacht, which we will talk about today, as I already said, was launched in 1953. At the time of launch, she was one of the largest yachts in the world and equipped with the latest technology. At that time, only the royal yacht El Horria, owned by Egypt, was larger than it.

Britain still occupies an honorable 15th place in the list of the largest yachts in the world, which by today's standards is very decent. Of course, we take into account the fact that Britain was built in the middle of the last century.
Here are its characteristics:

So, for 44 years, the yacht Britannia served Elizabeth II as a residence and vessel for official overseas visits. Members of the royal family also loved to relax on it. Princess Diana's honeymoon also took place on this yacht.
In 1997, a decision was made to decommission the ship. There were many reasons. The official reason is that the queen, under political pressure, abandoned the yacht due to the fact that society was opposed to large expenses for maintaining the vessel. The yacht required repairs and re-equipment, since the equipment and filling had not changed practically since its launch. Among the unofficial reasons, it seems likely that the yacht could not provide the proper level of security for the royal family in the coming 21st century. Britain's last overseas mission was to deliver Hong Kong Governor-General Chris Patten during the transfer of the colony to the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China on July 1, 1997. Following her withdrawal from the fleet on 1 December 1997, Britannia was declared part of the National Fleet Museum and was moored at the historic port of Leith in Edinburgh, Scotland.

After a short historical excursion, I will begin the story about my visit to the Britannia yacht. The yacht is open to anyone who wishes to visit it. First you need to get to the city port of Leith. Travel time from Edinburgh city center by public transport is about 20 minutes. I took bus number 22. We go to the final stop Ocean Terminal:

1. After getting off the bus you will see the huge Debenhams shopping centre. It is through this that the entrance to the yacht is carried out:

2. The yacht is moored on the back side of the shopping center. If you are curious what it looks like from the pier, you can walk around the shopping center (like I did) and take a few shots. However, you will not be allowed to get close to the ship:

3. It’s hard to get lost inside the shopping center. Signs and elevators lead to Britain:

4. Be sure to take an umbrella with you. Part of the yacht inspection will take place on open decks, and Edinburgh is famous for its sudden rainfall. During the 2 hours of my visit, the rain started and stopped several times:

5. Entrance to the beginning of the British exposition. It's hard to miss. Everything is very expensive and stately in English:

6. On the walls are photographs of the royal family related to the yacht:

7. First you need to buy a ticket:

8. Prices are not cheap these days, but believe me, it’s worth it to touch English history. Already included in price audio guide, which to my surprise was available on Russian language:

9. Before you go to the yacht, a small exposition-museum is displayed in the shopping center. Since they are launched onto the ship in small groups, it is very convenient to while away the time:

10. Band officer's dress uniform. An interesting fact is that the musicians of the British parade band are Navy SEALs, whose duties included security in foreign ports. I'll tell you more about this later:

12. Diagram of the yacht Britannia:

13. Let me remind you that we are not on board yet, but in the museum part of the exhibition:

14. Well, here comes Britain itself. The ship inspection system is interestingly thought out. An extension has been made to the shopping center through which people enter the ship. It has stairs and an elevator. There are exactly as many floors as there are decks on a ship. Thus, following the signs on the yacht itself, people inspect one deck and end up again in this annex and go down to the deck below. If I'm not mistaken there are 5 levels. The inspection begins from the very top deck (but you can always return). It is very difficult to get confused or lost. Well done Englishmen:

15. I receive an audio guide. Besides Russian, there are many other languages. I would like to draw your attention to the choice of audio guides in English.
- normal for adults,
- especially for children with playful presentation of the material,
- for the visually impaired with a detailed description of the details
- for people who do not speak English well.
How do you like this approach to caring for people?

16. I didn’t try to hide and took Russian. True, there were doubts that the translation would be terrible, but everything was just super, even without the accent:

17. We begin the inspection from the upper deck:

18. The main pipe looks very menacing:

19. The first room is the captain's cabin:

20. Everything in the wheelhouse remained unchanged, as it had been all these years when Britain traveled around the world. However, this applies not only to the felling, but also to any corners and premises throughout Britain:

22. Devices of those years:

23. And here is the captain's chair. This is the only chair in the wheelhouse. The remaining assistants kept a standing watch:

25. This is already a communication system with the cabins and guests of the yacht:

26. Next to the captain's bridge is the navigator's room:

29. Shape:

30. This is what the bow of the yacht looks like from the captain’s bridge. Below you can see the bridge from which the queen waved her hand to the people who had gathered to see her off. Perhaps this is exactly what happened during her first visit to St. Petersburg, which took place in 1994. Then Elizabeth II first arrived in new Russia:

31. Unfortunately, I didn’t wait until the captain’s cabin was free of visitors:

32. View from the captain's bridge towards the stern of Britain:

33. Well, we go down to the deck below along the very same annex I was talking about:

34. On this deck we will get acquainted with the captain’s cabin and the officers’ wardroom of the yacht Britannia:

But that's in the next part...

That's all! The continuation will be very soon!

The royal residences of the rulers of Great Britain are not only palaces and castles. The most unusual of them is, perhaps, yacht Britannia, which faithfully served the royal family for almost half a century.
Since ancient times, the kings of the country, which was a great maritime power, had their own personal ship. This yacht is neither more nor less, the 83rd among the royal ones; the entire history of royal ship ownership can be studied at the stand, which is located in the corridor in front of the pier.
But, alas, it is also the last, because when the time came to “change the craft due to technical wear and tear,” the British Labor government decided not to allocate funds for the construction of a new yacht. Like, “there’s no point in building yachts with people’s money...”, although the royal family was ready to bear part of the costs themselves.

Official data Royal Yacht Britannia:
Year of construction – 1954,
year of write-off – 1997,
length – 125m,
weight – 5769 tons,
The number of team and service personnel is 230 people.

And now the royal yacht Britannia is moored in a suburb of Edinburgh and operates as a museum. The yacht is in excellent condition, and visiting it will certainly be interesting for both adults and children!
There is an excellent audio guide in Russian that will take you through all the decks and tell you in detail about each of the rooms.

This is a very interesting and educational museum, where you can see the organization of the daily life of the royal family and its staff, and the premises that served for official receptions of important guests.

Dining room:

The yacht even had a black Rolls-Royce (you can see it), which was intended for official trips ashore. The car was removed from the yacht using a special crane.

The yacht Britannia was decorated to the taste of the royals (most of the things were personally chosen by members of the royal family) and was their real home anywhere on the planet that the Queen visited.

It is interesting that of all the “royal museums” (be it or), only here you can see the personal chambers of their royal majesties.
Her Majesty's Bedroom:

Queen's office:

His Highness's bedroom:

Prince Charles and Lady Diana's bedroom:

Different rooms on the yacht:

Royal Yacht Britannia - how to get there

The yacht Britannia is on display at the new ocean terminal of Leath, Edinburgh's port which was incorporated into the city in 1920 and is now a north-eastern suburb.

The easiest way to get there is by bus.
Stop Ocean Terminal, buses go there 11, 22, 34, the journey takes about 20 minutes (bus tickets can be bought directly on the bus - have some change ready, the price of an adult ticket at the time of writing is 1.40, a children’s bus ticket is 0.70)
At any bus stop you will see a map of bus routes (City Center Bus Map), at the bottom of the map the routes and letter designations of the stops where this bus stops are indicated. Find the street closest to you on the map, see where there are stops and find out what route you can take to get there from here.

Yacht "Britannia" (Great Britain) - description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.

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This is one of the variants of the yacht Britannia, which today is laid up in the Edinburgh port of Leith. It was built in 1951, and for 45 years the yacht belonged to the royal family. Royalty visited her all over the country, and royal newlyweds spent their honeymoon on the Britannia. Today the yacht is a museum.

In short, the history of “Britannia” is as follows: in the mid-20th century, Queen Elizabeth participated in the launch of a yacht and announced that she was calling it “Britannia”. This ship - one of the most famous in the world - has covered a total of one million miles. It was on it that Elizabeth the Second made an official visit to Russia, landing in St. Petersburg.

On the yacht you can walk along the decks, study photographs of the royal family, look into the admiral's cabin and kitchen, and see the bedroom where Prince Charles and his wife Diana spent their honeymoon. Moving along the decks means constant descents and ascents. But everything on the yacht is so conveniently equipped that people with disabilities can also navigate it.

Address: EH6 6JJ, Edinburgh, Ocean Terminal.

Opening hours: January - March, November - December: 10:00 - 15:30, April - June, October: 9:30 - 16:00, July - September: 9:30 - 16:30.

Admission: 16 GBP, pensioners (over 60 years), students: 14 GBP, children (5 to 17 years): 8.5 GBP, children under 5 years: free, family ticket (2 adults and 3 children): 45 GBP .

Prices on the page are for October 2018.