We take a look around the amazing Royal Yacht Britannia.
The Queen's own private yacht
including taking a peek at her bedrooms
dining rooms, studies and more.
Well ahoy there cruises and welcome to Edinburgh in Scotland.
I think you can guess where we are today we are by the amazing
HMS Royal Yacht Britannia.
Yes royal!
This was Queen Elizabeth II yacht
from 1953 all the way up until 1997 until she was retired.
We're going to take a look around this amazing museum floating museum.
Whilst we can't cruise what's the best way to do it.
Get on a royal yacht of course so come on.
Let's go.
The Royal Yacht Britannia sailed the
equivalent of around the world once a year calling it over 600 ports in
135 different countries.
So we've just boarded the Britannia and
we're on the open deck the flag deck is what it's called
and we're going to take a look at the bridge.
Let's go!
Sailors.
so we're on the bridge here on the Royal Yacht Britannia it's a lot smaller than I
imagined it was going to be actually.
I kind of thought it'd be a lot bigger did you Ben?
But this is where the admiral would be and it controls the ship from here and it's got all of the
original equipment that was here when the ship was built.
It's actually really interesting.
It's lots of phones, lots of switches, lots of dials very old-fashioned way of navigation.
The yacht wasn't actually steered from the bridge.
Commands had to be called down through metal pipes to a helmsman
located in the wheelhouse on one deck below.
The ship was built in Scotland by John Brown and company.
One of the most famous shipyards in the world.
Having even built the famous cruise liners
Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary.
The Queen smashed a bottle of empire wine
because champagne was considered too extravagant in post-war Britain
and named her Britannia.
I name the ship Britannia.
May God bless her and all who sail in her.
Let's go one deck down to the royal deck.
[Classical Music]
This is where the admirals quarters and office could be found.
The admiral had the most spacious crew cabins on the yacht.
It included a bedroom a bathroom and a day cabin
which also functioned as his office and conference room.
When the royal family were on board the admiral often dined with them.
Particularly during official events.
When they were not on board he would dine in his day cabin.
When Britannia was built in 1953
a garage to house a car on board was considered essential.
The garage would hold a Rolls Royce and Land Rover.
Buring the later years when transport was more reliable in foreign ports
the garage would store beer.
You may notice the windows here are higher.
That's because they are the royal residences.
So there's no peeking.
The veranda deck was where the royal family could relax.
Up here they would play games, paint and occasionally a pop-up swimming pool for
the children would be erected.
During the right weather official functions were also held out here.
[Classical music]
[Bell ding]
[Classical music]
The sun lounge was the Queen's favorite room on the ship
and it's easy to see why. It's so bright.
She would enjoy breakfast, morning coffee breaks and afternoon tea in here.
It also has its own bar for cocktails.
Perfect.
[Classical music]
[Champagne pop]
[Classical music]
And just behind we have the royal residences.
These were strictly only for the royals on board.
First up is the queen's bedroom.
Wow it's so lovely.
Notice that she only has a single bed because the Duke of Edinburgh has a separate bedroom.
There's only one double room on board britannia.
This was brought on board by Prince Charles and Diana for their honeymoon in 1981.
Fun fact nobody else can go to bed until the queen chooses to retire.
And this is the Duke of Edinburgh's bedroom decorated in a more masculine style.
they had separate bathrooms but there was a connecting door to the queen's cabin.
There are 16 other bedrooms located elsewhere on Britannia
which were used by the royal family
and big dignitaries such as president Clinton and Mrs Clinton.
Britannia had a crew of 220
and when the royal family were on board she also carried a platoon of Royal Marines.
There were different classes among the crew and officers on board the ship.
This is the ward room for the officers on board
and this is where they'd come to relax when they're not on duty.
It even had its own bar.
The dining room next door is where they'd eat and it was considered a formal occasion.
Just along is the main galley.
There was also separate rooms that held the chinaware and the silverware.
This brings us to the huge state dining room.
That had a massive 32-seat mahogany table.
As Britannia was officially British territory the queen would host many
banquets and receptions here.
During state dinners the queen would always sit on the port side of the dining table.
And it wasn't just used for royal occasions.
During the day the queen and the other members of the royal family would enjoy a buffet lunch in here.
So here is the queen's private sitting room.
Where she'd even work whilst on holiday
and just opposite we have the duke's private study.
Over his desk is a model of the HMS Magpie.
A ship he once commanded.
The grand staircase from the royals quarters led down to the state drawing room.
This was floral and homely.
The queen really wanted it to feel like it was her own home
and resemble an English country home.
She wanted a real fire in here
but they informed her they would have to have a crew member on watch
at all times when it was lit.
Evenings here would involve playing cards, socializing, watching the tv which is hidden in the room
or watching full screen movies in the dining room.
And the crew deck was located one deck below.
Here you found several bars depending on what rank you were
and some very close living quarters.
There's I think eight people in this tiny little room.
Wow it's a little bit different to the queen's quarters don't you think?
[Marching band music]
And another fun fact until 1973 the crew actually slept on hammocks
then they were swapped out for these, well i'm not sure about comfortable, but beds.
[Marching band music]
The pubs on board were known for their carnival-like atmosphere
and somewhere where the crew could relax.
Even Elon Musk is enjoying himself!
[Marching band music]
Here's another one of the pubs on board.
This one resembles more of an upscale pub or club.
The bars were on board to make the crew members feel more at home.
Crew quarters varied depending on the hierarchy of the officers.
The higher up you were, the nicer and the more spacious your crew cabins were.
[Music]
The ship had its own mail room and just next door was the hospital.
Which included a consulting room, a hospital ward and an operating theatre.
The ship's doctor only took care of the officers and crew.
A royal physician would look after the royals.
The ship had a huge laundry on board which was something very unique.
Temperatures in here though could get up to 120 degrees fahrenheit.
That must have been very hard work.
[Chamber music]
And finally we got to peek into the engine area
including the engine cabins and offices.
The yacht had 12,000 horsepower engine
powered by steam and allowing speeds of up to 25 miles per hour.
The engine plant on board has been unchanged since the 1950s.
In here we have one of the shower and washrooms for the crew
for up to 20 people at a time.
Oh my gosh it must have been complete chaos.
There's also a small exhibition inside and outside which ends the tour.
[Chamber music]
Wow what an amazing tour that was really awesome
and yeah it was interesting and it was as Ben kept saying it was strange
because you're at points where history was made.
So it was really cool!
And you know what guys it was nice to be on a ship.
It was nice to be back on a ship.
We didn't go anywhere but
I absolutely loved it.
So that's it for this episode and this amazing look around the HMS Royal Britannia.
Wow what an incredible place.
We were so surprised how much of the ship you actually get to see.
We even got to see where the queen sleeps.
She doesn't share a bed with Prince Philip.
So that must have been an interesting relationship.
Anyway thank you so much for watching.
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That's it until next time happy cruising!