The Royal Yacht Britannia. The building
to the right houses several flights of stairs and two lifts to
enable visitors the visit particular deck on the yacht. A
one-way system was in operation which made movement around the
ship very streamlined.
The Bridge. The only person who had a seat was the officer in
charge, usually a Rear Admiral. Eveyone else was expected to
stand and be vigilant.
Part of the communication system
The Royal Bridge (the deck below the bridge). Often the Queen
and The Duke of Edinburgh would stand here and wave to the
crowds on the quayside as the yacht left a harbour.
The Sun Room was the Queen.s favourite room on the ship. She
and her family would take afternoon tea here.
The bamboo furniture in the sun room was chosen personally by
Prince Philip.
The diagrams of previous royal ships concealed cupboards
containing games and other entertainments.
The rum tub was used to give members of the crew their daily
ration of rum right up to 1970 when this tradition was
abandoned.
This is the Queen's bedroom with its original 1950s furniture.
Nothing was ever thrown put unnecessarily.
The Queen's dressing table
Prince Philip's more masculine bedroom
The "Honeymoon Suite" contains the only double bed on
Britannia. It was installed when Prince Charles and Princess
Diana sailed on the ship as part of their honeymoon.
The Wardroom Anteroom was where the officers could relax when
not on duty. We were told that a favourite game was to throw
the wombat onto the spinning fan adn try to "bat" it as was
flung around the room!
The Officer's Wardroom. Dinner here was a formal affair with
the officers dressed in their "Red Sea Rig" for the occasion.
One setting of the above
Part of the siverware in the Wardroom
There were three galleys on the Britannia, one for the Royal
Family, one for the officers, and one for the crew. This is
the china pantry.
The State Dining Room
The clocks on Britannia (this one in the State Dining Room)
are all stopped at 3:01pm, the moment the Queen disembarked
for the last time.
The State Dining Room displays many objects given to the Queen
and The Duke of Edinburgh on their many overseas visits. This
one cam from Easter Island.
This is the Queen's Sitting Room, where the Queen would work
for several hours a day on the state papers brought ot her in
distinctive red boxes. These were flown or shipped out to the
Britannia wherever she was in the world.
The Queen's desk
The Duke's Sitting Room
No rivets were used in the hull of the Britannia
Part of the engine room. The engines were steam-driven the
boilers first being fired by furnace fuel until converted to
oil in 1983.
The State Drawing Room
The Welmar grand piano in the State Drawing Room
I smiled when I saw the title of the music left on the piano!
This gangway was used only by members of the Royal Family.
Not everyone had their own bedroom!
The NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institute) was the onboard
shop. It was open to everyone and stocked basics such as
toothpaste. The Royal children often visited to stock up on
sweets! It now sells sweets and treats such as fudge.
The Mail Office
The Sick Bay
The Britannia even had its own operating theatre. In the event
of a war, the Britannia was designed so that she could be
converted to a hospital ship. Fortunately, this never
happened.
The Laundry. Clothes belonging to the Royal Family we washed
on separate occasion to everyone else's!
The Royal Barge
Next on our itinerary was a visit to Edinburgh Castle. Hundreds
of people were making their way up the steep hill to the entry.
We feared that it would be very crowded but were relieved to
find that, because the castle is so big, it didn't feel too
crowded.
Grandstands being erected for the Royal Edinburgh Military
Tattoo.
There were many steps to be negotiated.
The views from the castle are extensive.
I'm not sure what this building is but it is certainly
different!
This is the "One O'Cock" gun. It is fired, not surprisingly,
at 1:00pm ever day excepts Sundays, Good Friday and Chrstmas
Day. Its original purpose was to aid ships' crews to have an
accurate time.
Lunch at the café
This is the Scottish War Memorial
The front of the Scottish War Memorial (the interior of which
was one of the few places in the Castle where photography was
not permitted).
The entry to the
Scottish War Memeorial
The Royal Palace contained a number of rooms and exhibits,
the "Honours of Scotland" (the Scottish Crown Jewels and the
Stone of Destiny) in particular. Photography was permittted
in some of them.
A portait of James VI at the age of 16...
...and another one when he was considerably older.
The Laich Hall
The Great Hall, built in 1512. When Cromwell captured the
castle in 1650, he converted the room into soldiers' barracks
and it remained in military use for the next 230 years. In
1886, work began to restore the room to its former glory and
most of the interior dates to that time.
A reproduction of St Edward's Chair
and the Stone of Destiny. An American visitor
was heard to exclaim "What is that thing right there, it
looks like polystyrene!" And it did too!
This is "Mons Meg".
Weighing six tonnes with a bore of 48cm, it is possibly the
largest gun ever fired in anger in Britain. It was used in
1489 to atack the castles of Duchal, Crookston and Dumbaton
which all quickly surrendered rather than face the wrath of
"Mons Meg"!
This is St Margaet's Chapel which is the oldest building in
the castle having been built in 1130 by King David I as a
private royal chapel dedicated to his mother, Queen Margaret,
later to be St Magaret.
Inside St Margaret's Chapel
St Andrew
This is Douglas Strachan's stained glass window depicting St
Margaret
A depiction of William Wallace,
one of the main leaders in the First War of Scottish
Independence.
The Nativity
The Lectern
There was a series of carvings depicting the trades used to
build the cathedral.
Satoshi with John Knox, who became the first Protestant
minister of the cathedral in 1559.
Sts Columba, Andrew and Cuthbert
Melchizedek,
Abraham and Isaac
Abel, Enoch and Noah
Scenes from the story of Joseph: Jacob gives him his coat of
many colours, his brothers tell Jacob that he has been killed,
Joseph interprets the dreams of the baker and the butler, and
pharaoh rewards Joseph for saving Egypt from seven years of
famine.
Jacob is reunited with Joseph in Egypt.
A detail of the Joseph story
Looking up!
Unfortunately, Holyrood Palace was closed
because ome dignatary was in residence but we were able to peer
in through the gates.
Dinner was at a different Toby Carvery!