Word: britannia
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Alone at last? Yes, but only after the royal yacht Britannia managed to shake off its accompanying flotilla of well-wishers at Gibraltar and run for the open Mediterranean, could its two passengers, Prince Charles, 32, and his new bride, Diana, 20, begin a fortnight of solitude and sightseeing...
After their first two days at Broadlands (home of the late Earl Mountbatten of Burma) and two weeks aboard the royal yacht Britannia in the Mediterranean, the Prince and Princess will try to keep to themselves until late September, when what Charles calls "the family business" will start up again in earnest. Banquets, speeches, presentations, appearances: at least 200 official functions a year, plus one major foreign trip. The monarchy, it is said repeatedly, is above politics. But the monarchy has a political effect and the wedding demonstrated it, in the same way that it suggested the promise...
Launched in 1953 at John Brown and Co., Ltd., Clydebank, at a cost of $5.9 million, Britannia has spent more than her share of time in drydock and hot water. She has required eleven overhauls costing $56 million. Annual running operation now comes to $5.4 million, a sore point in Parliament. In 1976, Britannia was refused permission to sail into Montreal for the Summer Olympics until she made costly changes to her sanitary system, which Canadian officials believed would pollute the St. Lawrence River...
Should Charles and Diana feel the urge to strike out on their own for a short spin, Britannia carries her own miniflotilla. Included are a 40-ft. barge, two 35-ft. speedboats, a motor cutter, two 16-ft. fast-motor dinghies, two 14-ft. sailing dinghies and a number of lifeboats-one big enough to carry a Land Rover. The yacht's sun deck can double as a landing pad for helicopters and her hold can carry two Rolls-Royces...
...Britannia's royal suite has undergone one notable change since she last served the royal family for such a voyage. During their 1973 honeymoon cruise, Princess Anne and her husband, Captain Mark Phillips, had to request that the royal suite's twin beds be lashed together...