The Queen, whose death was announced this afternoon, was involved in naming cruise ships from the age of eight.
On September 26, 1934, she accompanied her grandparents King George V and Queen Mary to the launch of Cunard’s original Queen Mary in Clydebank, Scotland.
To view The Travel Film Archive video on YouTube (no commentary), please click here
Four years later, she saw her mother – then Queen Elizabeth – launch the first Queen Elizabeth for Cunard.
To view the Pathé News video on YouTube, please click here
While still Princess Elizabeth, the 21-year-old christened her first ship in her own right when she launched Cunard’s Caronia on Clydebank on October 30, 1947.
To view the British Movietone video on YouTube, please click here
Her Majesty was back in Scotland in 1967 to christen QE2. She also named P&O Cruises ship Oriana in 1995, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 in 2004 and the new Queen Elizabeth in 2010.
To view the British Movietone video of the launch of QE2 on YouTube, please click here
It was in 2015 that the Queen was called on again to be godmother to the P&O Cruises ship Britannia in Southampton.
The 88-year-old monarch, accompanied by her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, sent a bottle of English sparkling wine smashing against the hull and declared: ‘I name this ship Britannia. May God bless her and all who sail in her.’
Today, the cruise industry joins millions around the world mourning Her Majesty and sending condolences to her grieving family.
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