Cunard’s dreams come true at last

//Cunard’s dreams come true at last

Queen Elizabeth on Sea Trials.jpgFor months, the big bosses at Cunard Line have been tiptoeing around, desperate to be able to announce that the obvious person has agreed to name their newest ship. It’s called Queen Elizabeth, so no prizes for guessing who that person should be.
Such is the protocol for these things that they could not even ask until they knew the answer would be yes, because if Her Majesty had declined, they would have been unable to pass on to another member of the Royal Family.
Finally today, with a fanfare of trumpets no less, came the announcement that the world has not quite been holding its breath for.
“Cunard Line is pleased to confirm that Her Majesty The Queen will name the company’s new Queen Elizabeth, the third Cunard ship to bear the name, at a ceremony to take place in Southampton on Monday 11 October 2010.”
When you look back at previous Cunard naming ceremonies, it becomes obvious that there could have been no other choice . . . and that Her Majesty would have had little choice but to agree.
She was just 12 years old when she accompanied her mother at the launch of the first Queen Elizabeth on Clydebank in 1938. As Princess Elizabeth, she launched Caronia in 1947, and she sent Queen Elizabeth 2 down the slipway at the John Brown yard in 1967 – changing the ship’s name as she did so. Most recently, in 2004, she performed the ceremony for Cunard flagship Queen Mary 2.
When Queen Mary, wife of King George V, launched Queen Mary in 1934 she became the first British monarch ever to launch a merchant ship.
Cunard’s Queen Victoria was named in December 2007 by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall in a ceremony marred only by the fact that the Champagne bottle did not smash first time – seen by some as a sign of bad luck.
Now that Buckingham Palace has made Cunard’s wish come true for Queen Elizabeth, those big bosses will be concerned for one more thing – to make sure there are no mishaps with the bottle.

By | 2017-06-15T16:00:22+00:00 1 September 2010|Cruise News|3 Comments

About the Author:

John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.

3 Comments

  1. cruisecupid 1 September 2010 at 9:44 pm - Reply

    love to be there! what an honour

  2. linerlover 1 September 2010 at 9:46 pm - Reply

    Thought she made their dreams come true in 2004. 😉

  3. Oman 4 September 2010 at 4:23 am - Reply

    Very appropriate, could anyone else have cracked the Champagne and said ‘I name this ship Queen Elizabeth, may god bless all who sail in her’.

Leave A Comment Cancel reply