Royal Yacht Britannia

This ship was commissioned in 1954 and was the royal transport and residence on overseas tours until 1997. She has a length of 412 ft / 126 m and oil-fired twin turbines; she was also designed to act as a hospital ship in wartime but was never so used. Symbolically her last duty was to bring home the Governor of Hong Kong after the crown colony was handed over to China, and the last scrap of British Empire was ceded to the rising superpower. She was not replaced, in spite of a rearguard action by the flag-waving political right wing. Princess Diana took her honeymoon cruise aboard with Charles and must have experienced utter heart-sink: the average double-glazing millionaire has a better yacht than this. The royal apartments exhibit all the flair and comfort of the parlour of the deputy headmistress of a genteel boarding school. (See the Fingal Hotel, owned by the Britannia Trust and moored nearby, for what design pizzazz and a big budget can achieve.) Almost 270 crew were needed to sail this vessel, which is more military-meets-cruise-ship than a luxury yacht.

• family

Address

Ocean Terminal, Leith EH6 6JJ

Getting there

Access is through the shopping centre, on the 2nd floor

Hours

Apr-Oct 9:30AM-6PM, Nov-Mar 10AM-5PM. Last admission 2 hrs before closing

Price

Adults £25, students and children 7–21 £17.50. UK taxpayers can Gift Aid their admission

Website

royalyachtbritannia.co.uk (opens in a new tab)