When will Her Majesty say ‘Yes’?

The news that Princess Maxima of the Netherlands is to name Holland America’s latest cruise ship, Nieuw Amsterdam, has prompted further speculation about the plans for the naming ceremony of Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth later this year.
Nieuw Amsterdam’s naming will take place in Venice on July 4, and she will be the 11th HAL ship since 1929 to be launched by a member of the Dutch royal family. Sister ship Eurodam was named by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in 2008.
Built to a similar design, Queen Elizabeth will be launched in Southampton in October, and there can be only one person appropriate for the job of pronouncing the words “I name this ship . . . ”
Her Majesty the Queen launched Cunard’s flagship, Queen Mary 2, in January 2004, but as yet there is no confirmation that she has agreed to do the same for her own namesake – or even that she has been invited.
Cunard spokesman Eric Flounders said gnomically: “How can we say we are waiting for her to confirm something we haven’t said we have asked?”
But surely HM is not pacing the carpets at Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace, muttering to her aides and wondering when she’s going to get the call, or indeed who else would have the temerity to do the job if she’s not asked.
Maritime tradition dictates that ships are named by women, who become the vessel’s godmother, and Cunard more than anyone value traditions, and do their utmost to uphold them.
There will at least be another royal link for their new ship – I understand that the Queen’s nephew, furniture designer Viscount Linley, is involved in creating and supplying items for the vessel. Further details are expected to be announced next month.
Like Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who launched Cunard’s Queen Victoria in 2007, Princess Maxima is the wife of an heir to the throne. The daughter of an Argentinian politician, she married Prince Willem-Alexander in 2002.