On a flying to visit to Edinburgh last week, I had a couple of hours to spare and decided to be a real tourist and visit the Royal Yacht Britannia - conveniently berthed outside Debenham's to make HM feel at home because there's a TKMaxx right outside Windsor Castle, too. (I've often wondered if she ever gets the chance to rummage through the handbags and cheap soaps or if she's eaten up with curiosity every time she sails past in the Rolls.)
I'm no great Royalist but the yacht visit was fascinating, and I can see why it's been rated Scotland's best attraction; after all, it's not every day you get to peep into the Queen's bedroom. (Narrow, single bed. Even in the 1950s.) It's a wonderful mixture of the grand - parking space for a Rolls Royce - and the cramped family holiday from hell (cooking smells and sailors swabbing decks before you're out of bed). And despite the photographs on display from royal honeymoons - well, they're pretty well all divorced now and no wonder. All those stories about Princess Di stuffing herself with ice-cream in the galley suddenly rang very true ... there can't have been a moment's privacy, even if the crew are trained Downton-style never to make eye contact with their employers and 'betters.' As for the 'honeymoon suite' and the 4ft6 double bed that Charles brought on board specially ... you'd have more space in a decent B&B.
6 comments:
Yes, it's all very small compared to what one would expect, isn't it? Is it really our most popular tourist attraction? I'm amazed; though it's quite interesting. I was shocked at the VERY cramped quarters for the crew. I'm surprised they didn't mutiny and pop the royals over the side.
It says 'best' attraction on the leaflet, Pam; bit ambiguous, I shouldn't think it necessarily means top in terms of visitor numbers.
I couldn't believe that the crew were still sleeping in hammocks into the 1970s! Wouldn't you love to have been a fly on the wall to listen to the comments in the messroom - I bet they'd have happily slung the lot of them over the side! Up to 12 changes of uniform per day - what nonsense! I giggled when they said that the royal laundry was done on different days from the crew's .... God forbid that the Queen's knickers should take a whirl with the lower ranks!
Great fun for a nose around, but a cruise seems so claustrophobic. On second thought....sudden vision of a stocked library and lots of tea and baked goods at my beck and call. It just might work for a day or two.
Don't think the royalfamily are great readers, Darlene - few thrillers belonging to crew but not what you'd call a library. But it was great fun to be nosy!
I am short, 5'2, and I loved seeing the small round mirror set at just the right height for me (and the Queen, of course! to see my face! My family is all tall.....my daughter is almost 6 feet, and she is my short child.....so all our mirrors at home are just a little too tall for me.
Barbara M. In NH
I remember the mirror, Barbara; I'm taller than you but I remember thinking how nice to have things arranged exactly as you like them.
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