Royal Yacht Britannia will be built and operational within four years

Boris Johnson has announced that a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia will be built and operational within four years.

Downing Street has unveiled plans, which will see the new ship “host high level trade negotiations and trade shows and will sail all over the world promoting British interests” as a part of the country’s post-Brexit “open Britain” push.

The new £200m ship will replace the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was the 83rd and last royal yacht after Tony Blair opted to not build a replacement.

Downing Street said the new ship’s role will be “distinct from that of any previous national flagship” and will dock at countries that are due for prime ministerial visits.

But there’s just one small problem the Queen nor her family want one.

The idea that it might be named after her late husband Prince Philip was snubbed by Buckingham Palace and a senior royal told The Sunday Times that a royal yacht was “too grand” a symbol for use in the modern age. “It is not something we have asked for,” they added.

National Maritime Perspective:
It is not a new national flagship that we need to announce that we are once more “a great independent, maritime nation!” Whilst it would most definitely support shipbuilding in this country, there may just be better ways to represent and promote the best of British… but there again Boris is of course a sucker for vanity projects…anyone fancy a stroll across the Garden Bridge!

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