Files released by the National Archives show a government official dismissing the idea the Royal Yacht Britannia was a ‘matter of complete indifference to the Queen’
A Buckingham Palace official privately urged John Major’s government to stress the “inestimable value” of the Royal Yacht Britannia, new documents show.
It came as ministers debated the future of the “floating palace” in 1993 which the late Queen Elizabeth II used to travel the globe on official visits.
It was apparent that after almost 40 years the vessel was reaching the end of its life – but the government had yet to decide whether to invest in a new yacht. This was estimated at the time to cost between £50 million to £93million.
Other options at the time included refitting the ship – costing around £17million – but only for Britannia to continue for another five to six years.
It was widely believed the late Queen strongly favoured the commissioning of a new yacht but the Royal Family could not afford to be seen to be trying to influence politics.
But files released by the National Archives at Kew, west London, today show senior courtier Sir Robert Fellowes privately approached No10.
In February 1993 he asked the PM principal private secretary, Alex Allan, if Mr Major would insert a passage in a Commons statement referring to the importance of Britannia as well as the Queen’s flight and the royal train.
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Sir Robert suggested he should tell MPs that it was not just a question of cost “but also the style in which we wish our head of state and members of the royal family to represent us” in their public duties.
“It is always difficult to put a price on prestige but I have no doubt that over the years these items have been of inestimable value to this country.”
It added: “I would also like to make clear that there is not, and never has been, any pressure from the Queen to build a replacement for HMY Britannia. Should the government decide it is in the national interest for the yacht to be replaced that would be of course another matter.”
But in a separate note Mr Allan said: “I very much doubt the Prime Minister would want to say these sorts of things in his statement.”
The following day, Nicolas Bevan, the official heading the working group set up to consider the future of the yacht, agreed.
He said: “I also think that some of the wording proposed would be prejudicial to future decisions; for example to say that the Royal Yacht has been of inestimable value to this country will not be a helpful remark if ministers in due course decide not to replace Britannia.
“Equally it hardly rings true to suggest that it is a matter of complete indifference to the Queen as to whether Britannia is replaced or not.”
During 1982 and 1992 the late Queen used the vessel to conduct 14 official visits across the globe – including New Zealand, Jamaica, Nepal, China and Canada.
Britannia, which featured in the fictional-hit Netflix drama, The Crown, was finally decommissioned in 1997. It has since been used as a visitor attraction in Edinburgh and there have been repeated calls for a successor ship – despite the significant costs.
In 2022 Rishi Sunak torpedoed plans for a new “National Flagship” to promote the UK abroad proposed by his predecessor, Boris Johnson.
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