Inside the Royal Yacht Britannia, the royal family’s luxurious private cruise ship known as a ‘floating palace’

At the decommissioning ceremony, she shed a rare public tear.

On a trip to Scotland in 2023, I booked a ticket for the Royal Yacht Britannia museum, which costs £19.50, or around $25, for adults.

The entrance is located inside the Ocean Terminal shopping center in Edinburgh.

The five-story ship was a royal residence as well as a Royal Navy ship, with a full-time staff of more than 240 royal yachtsmen and officers.

The museum displays photos of the royal family’s life aboard the ship, as well as items like crew uniforms.

The ship is docked on the water just outside the shopping center.

There were also separate listening devices available.

Each room of the ship had a number that you could type in and press “play” to hear about your surroundings in an array of languages.

In this small space, officers navigated the seas and recorded data in the ship’s logbooks.

Britannia had three masts, and different flags were used to communicate with other ships on the water.

The admiral’s accommodations featured a day room, bedroom, bathroom, and pantry. The sofa and armchairs in the dayroom are over 100 years old and came from the previous royal yacht, Victoria and Albert III.

Part of the yacht’s royal quarters, the deck was also used for receptions and group photos.

Prince Philip occasionally set up his easel on the deck to paint.

Queen Elizabeth would often take her breakfast and afternoon tea in the Sun Lounge.

The embroidered silk panel above her bed, commissioned in 1953, cost £450 back then, or around $6,613 in today’s money.

Her sheets were embossed with “HM The Queen.”

Each room had its own bathroom.

A button next to each of their beds would summon a royal steward.

The double bed was requested by then-Prince Charles when he honeymooned with Princess Diana in 1981.

The room was also used as a nursery when the royal children were young.

Officers would spend their time here listening to the radio and playing board games.

Britannia’s 19 officers ate meals here, accompanied by the Royal Marines Band.

The galleys prepare food for the Royal Deck Tea Room and events hosted on the ship.

The royal family once used the space to entertain guests and play deck games.

Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Nelson Mandela, and many other world leaders dined here with the royal family.

The placement of each utensil was measured with a ruler.

Here, Queen Elizabeth would meet with her press secretaries and prepare for royal visits.

Both Philip and Charles used the room as a study. Philip kept a model of his first naval command, the HMS Magpie, above his desk.

The telephones connecting the sitting rooms to each other and their private secretaries’ offices are identical to the phones used in Buckingham Palace.

The Drawing Room featured an electric fireplace and cozy floral furniture. When it wasn’t being used as a reception space during formal events, the royal family used it to relax and play games on the card tables.

Petty officers would occasionally entertain Queen Elizabeth and other royal family members here.

Each bunk folded up into a seat, and crew members stored their possessions in lockers.

Diana once bought Prince William a Britannia souvenir shirt from the shop. Today, it sells homemade fudge to museum guests.

The ship’s doctor attended to crew members, while Queen Elizabeth’s royal surgeon traveled with her on voyages.

The royal family’s laundry was done on different days than the crew’s laundry.

The clocks are frozen at the time that Queen Elizabeth stepped off the ship for the last time during its decommissioning ceremony in December 1997.

Amid the Britannia-themed mugs, pens, and aprons, the gift shop also sold replicas of royal jewelry.

The tour was full of surprising facts about royal life and travels, and I couldn’t believe that we actually got to see inside Queen Elizabeth’s bedroom on the ship. It’s definitely worth a visit.