Edinburgh #13
In contrast to the cramped crew quarters, the State Apartments on the rear decks were bright, light and airy. The comfortably furnished Drawing Room served as a place for the royal family to relax and also as a reception room for official functions. When the doors between it and its Anteroom and the State Dining Room were opened up, it could accommodate 250 guests. The baby grand piano is firmly bolted to the deck. A Royal Marine band member would sometimes play softly in the background, as people relaxed after dinner. It's also said to have been played by various members of the family, and by Noel Coward at one point.
The elegant staircase leads up to the bedrooms on the upper deck. (There are also lifts.) On either side of the staircase were two offices, one for the Queen (below) and the other for Prince Philip. You couldn't go into them but viewing windows have been cut into the walls. Even when on state visits and on holiday, the Queen was still expected to work on official papers.
Beyond the offices, the State Dining Room was where the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh hosted their guests. Sir Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Rajiv Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, the Reagans and Boris Yeltsin are some of the powerful figures who've been invited here. Dinners were meticulously planned. It took three hours to set the places, with the position of each piece of cutlery carefully measured with a ruler!
All the clocks on board Britannia are now set to one minute past three, the moment when Her Majesty stepped off the Yacht for the last time.
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