The Royal Yacht - Britannia

The royal yacht "Britannia" was the last of the yachts used by the royal family. It's this MASSIVELY huge ship that is five decks high and housed about 300 people whenever the Queen or royal family went anywhere.

The Queen would bring along 45 servants with her whenever she traveled on the yacht including her media person (the person who reads the news for the Queen then relays on valid information so the Queen doesn't actually have to read), a dressing servant (the individual solely responsible for laying out all the Queens clothes and accessories and ensuring every clothing article was cleaned properly), and even her valet. "Why a valet?" you may ask. "The Queen is on a boat." Well CLEARLY the valet is necessary for driving The Queen both to and from a destination and the yacht in the ROLLS ROYCE that had its own garage on the ship. Clearly. And if the Rolls Royce wouldn't do, the royal Land Rover would just have to suffice. But no worries - usually at the port of call, The Queen had a better car already waiting for her.

She would also bring 5 tons (i.e. 10,000 lbs.) of luggage with her even for just a short week-long trip. And her "work" week was just excruciating! The Queen would be woken up at 7:30 a.m. with tea and a bath set to her temperature liking. Afterward, she would meet with the Dresser to discuss clothing for the day. Over a lavish breakfast, The Queen would be updated with important news via her media servant. Then, she would spend a solid 3 hours worth of time "working". Her work consisted of meeting with another media servant to sign documents, arrange other travel opportunities, schedule parties, and open the mail that was delivered once per day by other smaller post ships. After lunch and more "work", The Queen would rest for a while before preparing for a massively formal dinner followed by coffee and entertainment before retiring for the evening at 11:30 p.m. OH THE LIFE!!!


Princess Diana traveled on the yacht and used to hang out with the crew in the lower decks of the ship. They would sing and dance, and she totally broke all "royal protocol" by doing so; hence why everyone in all the UK loved Princess Di because she was NORMAL and FUN.

The State Dining room was incredible and each wall and nook area were adorned with gifts from other country leaders. There was a whale rib bone, a collection of Chinese swords, a 25-foot long "money rope" made of red fabric that was used as a form of currency in a country the Royal Family visited, and wood carvings from Australia.

Overall, we spent about two hours listening to the audio tour and reading every sign we came across to learn more about this incredible piece of history. It was definitely worth seeing and I enjoyed learning so much!