In my recent post, A Little Prince, I mentioned that my Grandma liked to save clippings about the Royal Family.
I thought of this one today after hearing in the news about the latest Obama family vacation.
My grandma kept a couple clippings from the 1959 Royal Tour of Canada. I really like the caption for this picture:
Royal toy or ship of state? The Britannia is half as long as the Queen liners. Weekly operating cost: $11,000. Some Britons wonder if she’s worth the upkeep.
Remember this is 1959 when you think that $11,000 is not very much to operate a large yacht for a week. Can you imagine how much the cost would be today? I read in an article today that it will cost $210,000 each way to fly the President between Washington and Martha’s Vineyard for vacation.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip took a six week tour of Canada in 1959. One of the first things that they did was participate in the opening ceremonies for the St. Lawrence seaway. President Eisenhower joined them for the ceremonies which were held near Montreal. With the opening of the seaway, the Queen was able to sail in the HMY Britannia all the way to Chicago.
After a visit to Chicago the Queen traveled through a large portion of Canada visiting her subjects. She made it as far as Dawson which is almost to the Alaskan border.
I did a little bit of research about the HMY Britannia. Her Majesties Yacht was decommissioned in 1997 and has not been replaced. The yacht had steamed more than one million miles. The yacht was taken on many trips, including several missions of mercy.
One of the most memorable cruises of the HMY Britannia was for the honeymoon of Charles and Dianna in 1981.
You can visit the yacht today if you go to Edinburgh. The HMY Britannia is now an exhibition ship.
I have a few Canadians that follow my blog, Do you have memories of other visits by Queen Elizabeth?
Steven
Braman's Wanderings 
Wow, Steven, your archiving is incredible. I love all these clippings, and I knew little about the tour before this. Thanks!
I think we should go visit the ship!
Very interesting Steven. I wasn’t quite around for this tour but I do remember when Charles and Diana were in Edmonton for a visit in 1983. I took the day off work to get a spot to view them at our City Hall. Unfortunately it got supper crowded and I didn’t see very well. My Sister-Inlaws flower shop, Corinthian Flowers did flowers for the Air Canada Flight leaving Edmonton with Charles and Diana.
Fascinating!!!! Thanks.
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Steven, if you have any articles about the Britannia sailing through the Detroit River, Lake St Clair and the St Clair River, I would appreciate a copy. My father, Capt. Alfred Drouillard, told a nephew that was a pilot for the Britannia through the Rivers. He did not tell our family, so I do not know the boat that he was pilot on. He told one of his little nephews after it happened and that man told me about it just this summer. If you see anything about a pilot or the boat he was on, I sure would appreciate any information.
Ellen, I will see if I have any more information. There was an article with the pictures, but I don’t remember it having any information on the pilot boat. I will see if I can find the article again.
I also found this: http://www.thecakery.com/ACDautobiography.pdf
You have probably already seen it though.
Yes, I’ve seen the autobiography written by Capt. Drouillard for Jeanne at the cakery. She is my niece… Thanks for looking further.