A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head. The royal yacht is most often manned by personnel from the navy and used by the monarch and his/her family on both private and official travels.
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Some royal yachts have been/are small vessels only used for short trips on rivers or in calm waters, but others have been/are large seaworthy ships.
Depending on how the term is defined royal yachts date back to the days of antiquity with royal barges on the Nile in ancient Egypt.
Later the Vikings produced royal vessels. They followed the pattern of longships although highly decorated and fitted with purple sails (purple sails remained standard for royal vessels the next 400 years).[1]
In England, Henry V sold off the Royal Yachts to clear the Crown's debts. The next royal vessels in England were built in the Tudor period with Henry VIII using a vessel in 1520 that was depicted as having cloth of gold sails.[2] James I had the disdain a ship in miniature (she was later recorded as being able to carry about 30 tons) built for his son Prince Henry. The disdain was significant in that she allowed for pleasure cruising and as a result can be seen as an early move away from Royal ships as warships.
The first ships to unquestionably qualify as royal yachts were those owned by Charles II of England Scotland and Ireland. The first was gift from the Dutch but later yachts were commissioned and built in England. This established a tradition of royal yachts in Britain that was later copied by other royal families of Europe. Through the 19th century royal yachts got larger as they became a symbol of national wealth. World War I brought this trend to an end and the royal families that survived found it harder to justify the cost with the result that there are only two royal yachts left in use in Europe. For the most part royal yachts have been superseded by the use of warships in this role, as royal yachts are often seen as a hard-to-justify expenditure. In addition most monarchies with a railway system employ a special set of royal carriages. Most monarchies also employ aircraft as a luxurious (and much more speedy and timely) mode of transportation.
The Danish royal family have had several royal yachts. Two of them have been named Dannebrog.
Dubai is the personal yacht of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates. Completed in 2006, she is the second largest yacht currently in service[3] at 524 feet (162 metres) long. She came to world media attention when she sailed out to welcome the retired ocean liner, RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 to Dubai in November 2008.
The Imperial Ottoman Government and the Republic of Turkey has used many yachts for its Head of State.[4] These include:
During the existence of the German Empire,the Emperor (Kaiser) used these Imperial Yachts:
King Haakon VII received the Royal Yacht Norge as a gift from the people of Norway in 1947. The Royal Yacht is owned by the King but maintained and manned by the Royal Norwegian Navy. Before this other Navy ships had served as royal sea transport and the King used some smaller boats for short trips mostly on official occasions.
| Name | Length (m) | Shipyard | Year | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Said | 155[7] | Lürssen | 2007 | Has a helipad, orchestra and swimming pool. It is berthed in Mutrah port most of the time. |
| Fulk al Salamah[8] | 136 | Lürssen | 1982 | It has participated in Ship for World Youth.[9] |
| Loaloat Al Behar | 103.85 | Picchiotti Italy | 1982 | Largest yacht built in Italy in the 1980s. |
| Zinat al Bihaar | 61 | Oman Royal Yacht Squadron[10] | 1988 | Luxury sailing yacht built in Oman with imported engine from Siemens. |
| Al-Noores | 33.5[11] | K. Damen Netherlands | 1982 | Specialized tug boat for the other royal yachts. |
The Portuguese King Charles I used four successive royal yachts, all named Amélia, after his wife, Queen Amélie of Orleans. These yachts were, mainly, used by Charles I his oceanographic missions. It was in the Amélia IV that King Manuel II and the Portuguese Royal Family left the country for the exile, after the republican revolution of 5 October 1910. In the republican regime the Amélia IV was renamed NRP 5 de Outubro and operated by the Portuguese Navy.
Imperial Yachts employed by the Tsar of Russia:
Saudi Royal Yachts have included the following:
The United Kingdom has had 83 royal yachts since the restoration of King Charles II in 1660. Charles II himself had 25 royal yachts, while five were simultaneously in service in 1831. Since the decommissioning of Britannia in 1997 the Queen no longer has a royal yacht.
Other nations that employ some form of yacht presently or in the past include China, Iran, and Sweden.
Zanzibar had only one naval ship in 1896, the royal yacht HHS Glasgow. It was sunk by the British during the shortest war in history, the Anglo-Zanzibar War.
Yugoslavia had some royal yachts before world war two (most notably, one was a sister ship of the "Ilinden" which sank in lake Ohrid in 2009. The most famous Yugoslavian yacht is "Galeb", the yacht of Marshal Josip Broz Tito.
The United States in the past employed presidential yachts which functioned identically, serving the American President. Most notably was the USS Potomac (1936–1945) and the USS Williamsburg (1945–53). The most recent presidential yacht was the USS Sequoia (1933–77). Earlier vessels included the USS Mayflower (1906–29), damaged by fire during the Great Depression.
The President of Finland has a small private yacht.[14]
The Principality of Monaco owned the royal yacht Deo Juvante II between 1956-1958. The Camper and Nicholsons yacht was a wedding gift from Aristotle Onassis to Prince Rainer and Grace Kelly and was used on their honeymoon. The yacht, now called the M/Y Grace, is now owned and operated by Quasar Expeditions.
Italy had a royal yacht called Trinacia, the ex America.