Her Majesty The Queen named P&O’s latest cruise ship Britannia this morning – with a rousing crash as a bottle of British bubbly hit the super liner’s side.
The uniquely British ceremony was hosted in Southampton by superb Welsh wit Rob Brydon and featured acts such as bagpipe rockers The Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Strictly Come Dancing stars Ian Waite and Natalie Lowe, and a pair of military bands.
Her Majesty, dressed in a peach coat and hat and accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, pressed the button to launch the Wiston Estate brut around midday in front of a crowd of more than 1,000 special guests, including Your Hols James Ellis and Trisha Harbord.
Britannia, which cost just under half a billion pounds to build, celebrates modern Britain according to P&O boss David Dingle who said: “Britannia was built in the spirit of modern Britain. She takes the great things from all our other ships and adds new features such as the Limelight supper club and a new cookery club.”
Britannia’s cuisine also celebrates British food thanks to five P&O food heroes: James Martin, Marco Pierre White, Eric Lanlard, Atul Kochhar and Olly Smith.
Martin, who spent five hours chopping ginger ahead of last night’s gala launch supper, said of the ship: “When I first boarded, I didn’t think I was on a ship, I thought I was in a 5-star London hotel. It’s amazing to work in the kitchens here with 230 chefs preparing more than 2,000 covers. It’s an experience I am very proud of.”
The 3,600-berth ship features more than 6,000 pieces of uniquely British art, including a Star Burst crystal chandelier (below) in the atrium, and a stylised Union flag on her hull that needed more than 580 litres of paint. It has 15 passenger decks, 13 restaurants four pools, a superb kids’ club, a casino and a fabulous spa.
Britannia undertakes her maiden voyage, a two-day mini cruise around the English Channel, tomorrow.
See our top 10 Britannia facts here or click on the video below to see the bottle smash!