Back in the day, the British royal family had access to the Royal Britannia, Her Majesty’s yacht. The yacht was used almost exclusively by the Windsors, but it was technically part of the Royal Navy, and the Navy maintained it. Meaning, the taxpayers funded the royal yacht which was used for royal joyriding, private travels, honeymoons, vacations and yes, some business as well. The Britannia was only decommissioned in 1997 after years of criticism and millions of pounds wasted on the unnecessary vessel. Well… now it looks like the Windsors are getting a new yacht. Named after Prince Philip, a Navy man.
A new royal yacht is to be commissioned by the government and named after Prince Philip, according to reports. It would be a successor to HMY Britannia, which was decommissioned in 1997. The Duke of Edinburgh was Lord High Admiral from 2011 until his death earlier this year, and served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the new yacht will be announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson “within weeks”. The cost of building the vessel could be as much as £200m, with MPs calling for the ship to be built in the UK.
Downing Street has not denied the reports, with a spokesperson saying: “The prime minister has an exciting vision for shipbuilding in this country and is committed to making the UK a shipbuilding superpower. We are always looking for new ways to promote global Britain around the world, driving investment back to the UK and delivering value for money for the British people.”
The yacht would be expected to sail across the world and be used to promote British trade and interests overseas – including by hosting meetings. Conservative MP Craig Mckinlay has campaigned for the new yacht. He said: “A new national flagship proudly bearing the name of Prince Philip can be no better memorial to this much-loved and respected man. I am delighted that the years of effort to prove to ministers the value of such a vessel to our country’s global brand is now on the brink of becoming reality. My latest joint letter signed by fellow MPs and peers may have helped get this project over the line. I am overjoyed.”
I don’t doubt that the Windsors would love to get a new yacht, and Philip was reportedly quite angry when the Britannia was decommissioned and nothing was given to them in its place. But! I kind of doubt that the Queen is even asking for this mess. It’s not like the poor widowed Queen is like “you know what would make me feel better? If the taxpayers bought me a £200 million yacht.” This is Boris Johnson pulling some kind of scheme, although who even knows at this point. Maybe Baldingham is the one really pushing for it. After years of pretending to be a top pilot (he was only a co-pilot because no one trusted him or thought he could do the job), he’s now keen to pretend to be some kind of Boat Guy. Anyway, this is a terrible idea from start to finish and it’s crazy that the British government suddenly has £200 million to spend on a new royal yacht! My God.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Lazy Kate and Baldy Will are doing the happy dance in anticipation.
I’m sure Kate is already shopping for new bikinis.
A bikini with royal blue tassels.
Sailor cosplay gear with lots of shiny metal buttons and jaunty maritime berets with ribbon trim.
Bottoms only. With buttons!
Oh God, button nipples…
No way, button nipples?!?! lmao! Normal Bill better get sun block or a captains hat. Oh and just my 2 cents, boats are over-rated. When I sit in a nice hut on a tropical island after hanging with the locals I always feel sorry for people stuck on boats. It’s fun for awhile then land, well I’ll just say the sea isn’t calling me to tackle it, except maybe a short day trip. My grandparents had a fancy yacht a long time ago and used it rarely before an embarrassing mishap involving the coastguard, they sold it eventually. Apparently seeing sharks was the highlight.
Wiglet is not going to be wearing any bikini. We all know she likes to sun bath in the nude and loves to flash. I bet she can’t wait to flash those fried egg boobs of hers to the navy staff.
Maybe Kate with Sir Ben Ainslie
The HMS Ben Ainslie Bait
It’s outrageous how the government was saying that they couldn’t give a raise to healthcare workers or provide proper meals for underprivileged children, but has 200 million £ to spend on a royal yacht. It’s a bad look for all those involved.
For us in UK it feels like having Trump as Prime Minister. It’s a scandal that they are literally giving themselves or their chums trillions of pounds during a pandemic and to top it all, there is the grey elephant in the room, Brexit.
Johnson and his cabala of incompetent scammers are doing everything in their power to drain the UK’s coffers, any excuse is good except giving the money to those who need it (like children, 7 million people in poverty, homeless, food banks, the list is so long I would never stop writing until tonight).
@alpinewitch, I feel so bad for England. You are in the grip of the same forces we barely slowed down here in America. If Trump had one a second term, you can bet that the family would have been pulling up copper pipe in the Oval Office, metaphorically. Anything in the US would have been for sale. Anything. Boris’ explanation of the yacht reminds me of Trump’s Carrier factory debacle or his explanation of why we increased out arms sales to the Saudis. Gut the economy then point to a few stunts as good deals shoring up dying industries.
Those of us in the USA feel and empathize completely.
This makes me SO angry. We’ve had years of austerity, Brexit, hideously murky pandemic procurement, conflicts of interest under every stone you turn over and now Boris is doing this to pander to himself and the ‘rule Britannia’ crowd. All while arguing that they can’t afford to feed the children going hungry during the school holidays, cutting overseas aid (which helps EVERYONE).
I’m absolutely livid.
Wouldn’t a more fitting tribute to Philip be something benefiting the entire county and not just one family?
YES, I’m with Mac on this. Much more fitting indeed.
I am shocked. If nothing else, it seems like a ghastly PR call to announce this when the UK has been so heavily criticized for lowballing their assistance to India.
Wow. This is how out of touch the British monarchy is—but sure, Harry and Meghan are ruining everything! 🙄
Yeah, I’m waiting for reports how this is all due to H&M. I guess they are all so heartbroken that a 200 mill boat is the only way to cheer them up.
Nothing can replace Harry except a multi-million dollar yacht! Lol
This is 100pc Boris trying to distract from the cash for curtains scandal.
Hard agree with Mynameispearl – this is a distraction from the Cash for Curtains scandal, and an attempt to change the headlines before the London Mayoral, Welsh, Scottish and local elections on Thursday. (The government has a history of stupid announcements like this, usually from the Home Office…)
There has been a LOT of pushback about this on Twitter, and for what it’s worth, even Buckingham Palace has been briefing that it’s not a good idea and the Queen didn’t ask for it.
Ahhhh…but will she turn it down????? Nah… She’ll go and christen the ship when the time comes.
I totally agree. And it will go the way of all of the rest of Johnson’s big dramatic building schemes. Usually it’s bridges.
There’s some idiot in the Daily Telegraph who regularly pushes the royal yacht story. Michael Gove’s weaseled on about it for years too.
I’m in Canada, and I emailed my MP asking how much money Canada gives the monarchy every year, and it’s £69 000 000…. We give…. A rich white family tend of millions of pounds a year just cause…. And now they are going to get a yacht. HOW DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE WHY DO WE DO THIS?!
It doesn’t make any sense in UK but it makes even less sense in Canada or any of the Commonwealth countries.
Whenever royalists try to justify the royal family all the say is that they bringing millions in tourism. But that’s the uk, I really don’t understand how they benefit any commonwealth country because tourists don’t visit Canada hoping to see the queen, so where’s the financial benefit? I understand your frustrations, cos even though I’m in the uk, I still think they are pointless, even though they are based here.
What fresh f@ckery is this? Canada gives the British Monarchy £69,000,000 a year and the other Commonwealth Nations contribute as well… am I understanding that correctly? That’s insane. No one is going to Canada because they’re interested in the Windsors. Hell, you all give them £69,000,000 a year and the Windsors barely visit Canada themselves. They should build two coffins when the Queen passes away because there’s no way the Commonwealth survives without her.
when they visit, Canada pays for it.
I would go to prince Edward Island because of the Anne of Green Gables books. Maybe we should buy Anne Shirley a $200 million yacht.
That said, I do sympathize with the queen here because it doesn’t sound like she asked for it and it’s frankly more bad publicity that they don’t need on top of all the bad publicity publicity that they do deserve. I’m sure she wants to bash Boris Johnson in the head right now for putting one more thing in the news media that reflects badly on the monarchy
😘
I’m not sure about this. I mean, I don’t doubt the 69M, but I don’t think it goes to the Queen. I think it goes to the upkeep of her various representatives in each province and maybe the buildings? Of course, that begs the question – why should there even be representatives in each province? But, I’m not Canadian – this is just something I read about the Commonwealth countries.
I specifically asked “how much money does Canada send to the monarchy in the UK. My tax dollars pay your salary and I want this information.” And then he told me. And I couldn’t believe it. The news doesn’t even talk about this here! But seriously, any Canadians here, email your mp and mpp’s with questions. Legally they have to respond to their constituents.
I think only the Commonwealth countries with Queen as Head of State pay for it. I don’t think my country does. We have our own head of state. Other Commonwealth members like us would pay Commonwealth membership fees only, I think.
You know Kate wants the yacht so she can dress in all the nautical cosplay!
Seriously though, what’s the point of this? to travel around the world and promote British interests? You need a yacht to do that? And I like that there will be “meetings” on the yacht. It makes it sound like W&K are going to go yachting and they’ll invite some people on board and have a “meeting” and the whole two week event or whatever will count as work.
“to travel around the world and promote British interests? ”
Hahaha their interests, above all. You know BUT… BUT.. Meghan!!
It’s not even funny anymore because as a British taxpayer I’m past the point of even finding this remotely funny. I cannot even muster outrage, I’d be in the camp ‘their heads on spikes’ at the moment
“Yachting” and promoting british interest makes sense. And the DM is the advertising website for the yachting girls and boys anyway. The keens will be working overtime.
Sure… have a “business meeting” and the whole trip (food, liquor, clothing, jewels, etc). can be “written off” as a business expense. NO ONE pays… except the taxpayer.
If they were building it to showcase groundbreaking new technologies to make ships 100% environmentally friendly I suppose it could be a showpiece to attract foreign contracts, but it sounds like it’s just a massive give away to the BRF.
I read ‘promoting British interests’ as ‘providing Andrew with an international waters venue for abusing trafficked young women and doing backhander deals with war criminals and arms dealers’.
Wow wow wow wow this would be TERRIBLE for the royal family. School children were dependent on footballers to make sure they were fed quality food but the government wants to do this?? If anyone at any of the palaces has half a brain, they will come out publicly saying, thank you so much but we couldn’t possibly.
I had to check the date bc I thought Kaiser was April Foolsing us. I wish.
Boris, there’s people that are dying.
“Boris, there’s people that are dying.”
I totally believe that his comment “Let the bodies pile up” was true.
Of course it was, he is completely chaotic with total ego/self-interest and zero empathy.
So is the revolutionair keen guevarra, savior of poor kids, going to step in and criticize the british government for this mess or is she going to stay silent?
To be fair, i don’t think the BRF asked for this either but i don’t think they would mind if it was commissioned. And im sorry but in a time where there’s a deadly pandemic waging and more and more kids are going hungry this is just tone deaf.
Umm what? Gross. Has any public pushback been reported yet? Cuz there has to be pushback for this omg.
“Has any public pushback been reported yet?”
You must not live in UK, right? Going to a protest carries a 10-year sentence now.
Meant pushback in media, tv commenters, articles bring written. The ruling about public protests, which I think the govt used the excuse about the pandemic and loud noise? to make, is outrageous. Wish you guys could protest though bc I could see some happening over this and the Boris renovations.
On behalf of the British nation I apologise from the bottom of my heart for this utter nonsense. I can’t roll my eyes hard enough at, well, all of it.
The only thing that would make me even the tiniest bit inclined towards this is if we had another public competition to name the new yacht – a la Boaty McBoatface but with a royal twist. I submit the following:
HMY Wandering Peen
HMY Blindsided
HMY Royal Keenness
HMY Rose Above
LOL!!!
Oh please let them pick HMYWandering Peen!!
*best TV commentator’s voice* “And here we have their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge boarding HMY Wandering Peen. Apparently the Duke is very fond of sailing in her whenever possible and he shares that passion with his father, the Prince of Wales.”
Can we start making the seamen jokes then?
Sorry, I’ll show myself out.
Certainly. You need plenty of seamen in HMY Wandering Peen to ensure the correct level of service.
HMY Incandescent
Excellent entry. Or perhaps HMY Middleton PR – constantly changing tack?
The Hench – ha! extra points for nautical reference!
@ The Hench, I stand with you in apologies to the people of Britain. I read this article and all I could say is, what the f#ccckkkkk……….
All you brits need to call your MPs and demand an investigation. This is outrageous.
It’s effectively sound like some scheme from the government. They put this information out there to take the heat off Johnson’s recent scandals.
This kind of things will happen more more with the consequences of Brexit really kick in it. I don’t know if William realize that they are the perfect scapegoat for the government and even the press.
Why do you think he’s so mad at HnM, they were supposed to be the patsy for all things negative and they said seeya!
What a gift for the republican movement, and to independence movements in Scotland, Wales, and N. Ireland. A brand new yacht for the royal family of ye olde England! 200 million and how many bathrooms will it have? The cost and the number of bathrooms should be mentioned in every story.
Maybe they can ask the schoolchildren of the UK to contribute their allowance money to help pay for it. They could ask for donations from NHS workers as well.
Lord have mercy. Their comms teams might actually think this is a good idea!
It’s the first working day of May here in the UK. Aren’t those crisis managers starting their new jobs today? This should warm them up nicely…
“What a gift for the republican movement, and to independence movements in Scotland, Wales, and N. Ireland.”
This just days before the May election (on the 6th). Nicola Sturgeon is probably thanking the Scottish Gods that Johnson continues to be the most ardent supporter of independence.
I think, unfortunately for Scotland et al that independence as a country does not mean independence from the Royal Family but interested to hear from anyone who knows more than me – which, let’s face it, is probably most people 😉
Certainly a gift for Republicans though.
Don’t the SNP (Sturgeon’s party) support the monarchy? But I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s changing her mind, especially after the train tour and her negative reaction to it.
I was listening to an NPR story yesterday about how the UK is on the brink of dissolution and the commentator mentioned that a big coronation might push the other countries over the edge. Now I’m hoping that the HMY Wandering Peen being given to the RF is somehow tied in with the coronation. Those two hugely showy, expensive, nonsensical things happening together would really make a negative impact on public perception.
Couldn’t that money be better spent on vaccines? Or on basically anything else
Boris is such a mess. I also highly doubt any of the royal family is pushing for this. What I read said that the idea wasn’t for it to be exclusively for the use of the royals, but was to be used for government travel as well. Which.. why? Not exactly an efficient mode of transportation.
The Tories really think it’s the 1700s and we would be impressed by some Britannia yacht? Get out.
They absolutely do.
I don’t know how familiar you are with their work but google Jacob Reese-Mogg if you want a (very unpleasant) taster.
Staggeringly tone deaf.
I’d like someone do a clear impartial breakdown of how much it costs UK citizens and the Commonwealth to fund the royals and how much true value they bring in. Then break it down in clever 1 minute segments on TikTok with Corgis dressed like the Queen dancing to an EDM version of Rule Britannia. That will ensure the message gets spread.
LOL the visionary you just gave me😂
And how much they contribute? Well that question is easy to answer for commonwealth countries. Absolutely nothing.
The story about the yacht was launched on the Telegraph, Johnson’s old haunt. Like many other stories, they put it out there for the public to chew a little on it, test the wind and then go ahead and scrap the plan.
It fell through in the court of public opinion, hence there are no plans for a yacht (anymore).
They should send that money to India. Oh and btw GiveIndia.org is a great place for you to donate.
Thanks for sharing this. My husband has family in India and the situation there is beyond heartbreaking
I feel like someone wants to be able to have meetings in international waters for reasons which they will call “security”.
Wow, whilst our hard working essential workers aren’t even getting a decent enough wages to work, Boris decides to provide these freeloaders with an F ING yacht??? You couldn’t make it up
Why are folks saying that the BRF doesn’t want this??? The only time Elizabeth has ever cried in public is when her other yatch was decommissioned.
The only thing that old lady has ever cared for is herself and she has been begging through her minions for another yacht. One of her friends even left 50 million pounds towards making her a new yacht.
The royal family is extremely wasteful and they love extravagance. William and Kate last year went on an unnecessary royal tour on the ridiculously expensive royal train last year simply because they could.
The BRF is the foundation of public corruption in the UK, I’m kinda sick of people pretending otherwise.
Trump wishes he could get away with as much corruption as Elizabeth and her spawn do.
Weren’t NHS nurses and other health workers just informed there was no money to give the a pay increase? I hope there is a mass exodus of nurses out of the UK.
India, part of the Commonwealth, is in dire need right now. Canada, part of the Commonwealth, is having trouble getting vaccine. There are reportedly more than 20 commonwealth member states that need vaccines. People are out of jobs in the UK and commonwealth. And somebody thinks this is a brilliant idea to help?
This is a sign of a dying nation.
Nailed it, 100%!
This is Tory nostalgia for the imperial past and a total waste of money.
Someone said bojo hates the royals and want to see them gone, is this true? Is he a small r republican? What does he have against them?
I suppose this could be seen as sabotage by him if he secretly hates the rf?
Is it possible that this is being launched for when Camilla is Queen? There have been lots of stories about how difficult it is for her to travel internationally. Could this be Charles prepping for how to drag Camilla along on all those state visits? Of course, if this came from CH, I’d expect a lot more talk about how the yacht is made with “green” technology…
While UNICEF feeds Britain’s hungry children and professional athletes-not politicians or policy makers-make sure they stay fed.
This is an awesome look said no one except the BRF
Isn’t yachting one of the absolute worst things for the environment? Like it’s incredibly polluting and wasteful? Especially if you have a huge yacht that will require all kinds of fuel and that pollutes all over the place and then you just put a couple of royals on it? I’ve heard cruises are one of the least environmentally healthy ways to travel but at least a cruise ship carries 1000+ people around on it, you know? How is William, or Charles for that matter, going to seriously have saving the environment as their top cause, complete with the whole Earthshot thing as his “legacy” project, and then travel around the world on a huge, exclusive yacht?
This. is. Ridiculous. 200M tax dollars for a personal cruise liner for one Royal Family while people in the UK and Commonwealth nations are suffering. And they have the nerve to yowl about the Sussexes being on the public dole. If the government want to honor Philip it can a monument or plaque on a Royal Navy shipyard or rename an active ship, frigate or destroyer after him?
aquarius64, that was my first thought–just rename a ship that is active. I find it interesting that supposedly BP came out saying the Queen didn’t ask for a new yacht. Maybe they really didn’t. So the government is behind this. I’m starting to think that the UK Tory government does want to see the commonwealth disappear–and possibly lose the last of the countries in the UK. The only thing left would be England. Can someone here explain how this is a benefit to the tories? I just don’t know enough about the country and government to hazard a guess.
This doesn’t make sense on so many levels. What does a luxury yacht have to do with commercial and military ship-building? So you sail this yacht around the world to show everyone that, what, you can build a yacht? That’s going to make China, Japan and South Korea tremble in their boots.
And how does this have anything to do with the RF? With Charles looking to toss royals off the payroll, how does it make any sense to give them hundreds of millions of pounds? Can’t the Navy just name a new ship Duke of Edinburgh, or something?
Like the rf really want the public scrutinizing their cost right now? This could blow up in their faces in a big way.
My dream, there is public outrage and it is cancelled. Then Harry and Meghan buy a yacht. They would never be so petty though.
FFS! If they really want one, I’m sure the royals could afford it themsekves. They probably have enough hangers on to make up a crew too.
That British yacht will filled with shady people doing shady things.
The Queen must be very happy that her beloved husband Prince Philip is bestowed this Great honor from the British Government.
apparently not since Buckingham Palace has said the queen did not ask for and does not want it.
And we all know Buckingham Palace always tells the exact truth and never shades the truth to any degree in an attempt to protect the crown.
@Brittany At least this time they read the room properly. I’m fine with BP lieing through their teeth on this one.
I’m sure Carole is booking the first cruise to Mustique as we speak.
Is that why they had no money for Meghan and encouraged her to keep acting? To be able to afford this very necessary transportation for the other royals?
The arrogance…
If i didnt know better, id think that the government was trying to sabotage the BRF. The Firm can’t afford headlines like this right now. Charles is focused on slimming down the core membership in order to make things more cost effective and palatable to the taxpayer. As an aside, I’m entertained by the Cash for Curtain scandal. I want to know more about the fancy wallpaper Carrie selected lol
It’s likely that Boris did this because he is facing his own spending scandal and this would be a distraction.
Not very familiar with the Cash for Curtains scandal-agree that this is something the BRF should not welcome at this time. This would project any possible positive views of them downward. If it goes through we know Kate has experience working a yacht.
That’s a lot of public money to build a super yacht, and it seems like a vanity project. Who exactly is that supposed to appeal to? I guess it will provide a lot of shipyard jobs, PR ops, and Carole Middleton can decorate. Although, 200 million seems to be an entry level price point for billionaires and oligarchs, so anticipate cost overruns. Couldn’t they just buy a used one from some mega mogul or get a refurbished 20-40k gross tonnage cruise ship, since the industry is offloading smaller ships? Budget priorities I guess.
Are they crazy?
NOW???
Brexit, pandemic, the healthcare system, economic ruin, those shocking stories about what hungry schoolchildren were being fed- and they need a new YACHT right now ?!!!
Are the British tax payers paying attention to this shit?
LET THE PEASANTS EAT COVID! #AbolishTheMonatchy
The British government forced thousands of disabled people into work, and this predictably killed thousands of disabled people. They refuse to feed poor children. But 200 million for a yacht for these losers, sure, not a problem.
I realize the Tories also passed laws against protest, but good luck to them arresting 100,000 people in London at once. Which is what should be happening on the streets. Covid barely has any chance of passing at all outside, masks make it that much less likely — mask up and take to the streets. Because your government isn’t yours.
If this goes ahead, we all know that it would just become Andrew’s out-of-jurisdiction international waters pedo orgy boat.
If the RF have half a brain between them they’ll refuse it.
I remember reading back in 2018 or 2019 that some rich British person had died and left money for the Queen to get a new yacht. It was no were near $200M but it was a couple of millions, so maybe that were the idea came from.
It was Sir Donald Gosling who in December 2019 left £50M ($96M) in his will for the Queen’s new yacht. The BRF and the British government should be able to get a nice yacht for that sum and not double the price at tax payers expense.
Athena, it makes me wonder if that money is still there or it has been filched?
With the pandemic and brexit struggles this is a truly a bad pr move and completely insensitive towards their subjects. Between the pm and Royals they have no shame.
I hate this news. Hate.
The entire population is struggling during covid.
Look what the last 2-10 years have brought. Worse and worse for so many.
Nobody needs a yacht! Billionaires, The BRF, David Geffen, Bezo, etc.
Bernie Sanders was right. Obscene wealth, morally bankrupt people.
Excellent point. This is about a government giving a bid to a lobbyist, despite 6 million citizens are presently living on universal credit.