We Have a Queen and You Don't!

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We just knighted her husband! Prince Philip/Duke of Edinburgh/Phil the Greek/all round good guy; call him what you will, I doubt he needed an Aussie knighthood.
I`m no great royalist, but the Queen rocks. She`s into boats, even if she shows it by whacking them with bottles of champagne.
 
BruceK said:
We just knighted her husband! Prince Philip/Duke of Edinburgh/Phil the Greek/all round good guy; call him what you will, I doubt he needed an Aussie knighthood.
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When the Brits gave up Brittania as a Royal Yacht there was something lost. It was a cool way for the Queen to visit other countries, and she loved it so. Can you imagine the excitement generated by that yacht pulling into a harbor. Gosh, that was class all the way.
 
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Rule Britannia!
 

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I'd trade our current head of state for the Queen in a second. Too bad they ever let the royal yacht Britannia go though, that was indeed a sad day, and an unnecessary economy for the sake of PR in my opinion. Too bad we can't do a global "crowd-funding" and buy it back for her - or buy her a new one.
 
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Actually the queen and I go way back. My parents met when they both went to the train station in their town in Canada to see the royal family (the queen was a little girl at the time). She and her parents were making whistle stops in towns across Canada to drum up support for Britain before WW2. So I've often thought that without her and her parents I wouldn't be here. :blush:

But it doesn't stop there. My grandmother (who died at 104) grew up in England. She was clear-headed until the week she died and remembered as a little girl seeing a black train with black bunting steaming through the English countryside. It was Queen Victoria's burial train. That was in 1901 and Victoria was Elizabeth's great great grandmother.
 
I noticed in the London Telegraph that the last living subject of Queen Victoria died a few days ago at 114. Now there's a grand sweep of history.
 
If you want to see the Britannia it is open for tours in Edinburgh, Scotland. Drove by it in September but was too late in the day to go on board.

Marty...................
 
I happen to be wearing a watch today, commemorative edition by John Brown & Co., for the 60th launch anniversay of the Britannia, 1953/2013. Next time I'm over there I'll have to take the tour.
 
For the same reasons we give our (rich) presidents a big white house and a retreat in the Maryland mountains and a huge blue jet, and in the past, a big yacht (until one of the idiot occupants of the office ordered it sold in the 70's for pretty much the same reason they sold off Britannia - trading a rich, grand, and graceful piece of history for the sake of a momentary PR gesture to appear frugal).

That ship was a grand, beautiful and living piece of British history (and frankly made the Sequoia look pretty sad in comparison). It may sound out of fashion in this Kardashian world but nations and people need and love institutions and images and ideals, and the Britannia was a piece of that image - and since this is a boat forum after all, I don't think anything captures a public's imagination quite like a graceful boat or ship. Look at the powerful hold the Titanic and the other grand liners still have on the public, even though they've been (mostly) replaced generations ago by gargantuan floating hotel and amusement park barges.
 
kthoennes said:
For the same reasons we give our (rich) presidents a big white house and a retreat in the Maryland mountains and a huge blue jet, and in the past, a big yacht (until one of the idiot occupants of the office ordered it sold in the 70's for pretty much the same reason they sold off Britannia - trading a rich, grand, and graceful piece of history for the sake of a momentary PR gesture to appear frugal).

That ship was a grand, beautiful and living piece of British history (and frankly made the Sequoia look pretty sad in comparison). It may sound out of fashion in this Kardashian world but nations and people need and love institutions and images and ideals, and the Britannia was a piece of that image - and since this is a boat forum after all, I don't think anything captures a public's imagination quite like a graceful boat or ship. Look at the powerful hold the Titanic and the other grand liners still have on the public, even though they've been (mostly) replaced generations ago by gargantuan floating hotel and amusement park barges.
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And besides all that, when our big blue Airforce One flies in it is parked at the airport. Britannia came into a harbor where she was met by a fleet of welcoming boats. She tied up or anchored where all could see her and what she represented. She projected an image. Also when the Queen received government representatives on board she was on her own turf. They were the guests.
 
RT Firefly said:
Greetings,
"....the richest woman in the world ?" Not even close!
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"Rich" does not only relate to Ca$h or Equity!

Indeed... dear "Bake Bean Queen" holds riches in and of many dimensions!
 
RT Firefly said:
Greetings,
"....the richest woman in the world ?" Not even close!
Click to expand...
Aussie Mining "Baroness" Gina Rinehart is way ahead.
The Queen and PP used to visit the colonies aboard Britannia, but one day of air travel = weeks of ship voyage. Beauty and timelessness beaten by practicality.
Re Prince Philip`s Australian Knighthood (causing much political dissension here), people of public note sometimes begin receiving accolades and awards when illness is in the wings. Hope not, I admire his irascible sense of humor. His "Duke of Edinburgh Awards" have benefited many thousands of young people, in Australia and elsewhere.
 
FDR's-at-taxpayers'-expense former yacht, available for public visits at Oakland, California now:


img_302627_0_4c6246b217b2c0d1e1c7fc40617a7481.jpg
 
JFK's Manitou - his own, we didn't buy it for him, but just makes my point that there's something about beautiful boats that makes a deep impression in the public mind like few other things. Whether you think he was a hero or a cad, whether you think the image was genuine or phony, nobody left an impression like he did. The power of boats.

kennedy-sailing-jfk.jpg
 
markpierce said:
FDR's-at-taxpayers'-expense former yacht, available for public visits at Oakland, California now:


img_303145_0_4c6246b217b2c0d1e1c7fc40617a7481.jpg
Click to expand...

I've been out on the Potomac. A friend chartered it for his wife's 50th birthday a number of years ago. Beautiful fan-tail cockpit for socializing.

Richard
 
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