FLOATING PALACE
Inside Royal Yacht that cost £11m-a-year to run & was Queen’s ‘favourite’ home – here’s why clocks are stopped at 3.01pm
THE luxury Royal Yacht Britannia held a special place in late Queen Elizabeth II's heart - take a look inside her "favourite home".
Measuring 400-foot-long, this floating palace served as the official royal yacht of the British monarchy for 44 years.
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It provided comfort to the late monarch and her family, as they famously used it for an annual trip to the west coast of Scotland.
The two-week journey offered time to decompress from ever-demanding royal duties and the late queen once said: “Britannia is the one place where I can truly relax.”
Royal Yacht Britannia sailed over one million nautical miles across nearly 970 state visits.
The impressive luxury vessel transported famous leaders from across the globe namely Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Ronald Reagan and Rajiv Gandhi.
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And the Royal Family made full use of it themselves, with Charles and Diana using it on their honeymoon in 1981.
Brothers Prince William and Prince Harry also enjoyed trips on the Royal yacht in their childhood years.
But, by 1997 the ship, which had been launched in 1953, had become too costly to run - at an eye-watering £11million per year.
When the new Labour government was elected a replacement was not ordered.
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After making one last voyage to Hong Kong to convey the colony’s last governor, Chris Patten, and the Prince of Wales for the territory's hand-over, the ship sailed back to Britain.
Here it was decommissioned in a ceremony during which the Queen shed a tear for
Even now, every clock on the ship is stopped at 3.01pm - the exact time the late monarch stepped off the royal yacht.
However Brits can still go to see the late monarch's “favourite” home - with some 300,000 visiting every year.
This comes as King Charles set foot on the royal yacht on Monday to commemorate its 25th year in Edinburgh and commence the start of Royal Family's Holyrood Week.
The monarch is keeping royal traditions alive and travelled there for a week of coronation celebrations during which the 74-year-old will also be handed the nation's crown jewels - the Honours of Scotland (separate to the UK crown jewels).
King Charles shared an adorable photograph of himself as a young boy with sister Princess Anne on board.
Dated from 1956, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were pictured standing over them donning beaming smiles.
Yesterday, nearly 70 years later, the King joined former Royal Yacht Britannia crew for some rum and made a toast: "To all the marvellous Yachties who keep it all going, you are all brilliant."
As reported by the , Mark Carron served on Britannia for four years.
The 49-year-old said after chatting to the King that "He said 'I've always loved the smell of rum, it's a unique smell'."
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"This was the place out of the public eye, they could relax and be themselves", added the formed Yacht hand.
"On board Britannia that was their family time and it was our job to make their stay comfortable."
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