All aboard Royal Yacht Britannia

We took our visitors to see the Royal yacht Britannia in Edinburgh  which is now a major tourist attraction.
 
And I persuaded M to try on the hat and jacket of a naval officer (these garments were there for visitors to put on) .Alongside him is  a man from the Royal Marines who worked on the royal yacht for 8 years and sailed twice around the world.
He was one of a number of returning employees attending a reception there this evening.
For these men it was a trip down memory lane and an opportunity to share their experiences of life on board with visitors.
 
The biggest surprise is that this was no luxury yacht. It is very understated even modest.
 
The Queens bedroom is simplicity itself and quite small, (see extra photo) likewise the Duke of Edinburgh's that was a mirror image in adjoining rooms (Royals don’t sleep together).
 
Only the banqueting room, which seated 56 people, was on a grand scale. ( see extra photo ). Here all the world leaders had at some stage dined with the Queen from Churchill and Gandhi to Bill and Hilary Clinton, Mandela, Yeltsin and Margret Thatcher.
Today the room is used for corporate events.