British tycoon leaves £50 million to the Queen to pay for a new royal yacht

UK's richest women not US !

We are amused!

Fucking shameless. Meanwhile, English teachers are fleeing abroad.

What the fuck does that have to do with the Queen, R3?

Kudos to him.

Clearly, nothing better could have been done with the money.

Idiot As long as Meghan Markle doesn’t get her grubby hands on them @R5

Do I detect a touch of sarcasm r5??!! 😁😉

Yay! A boat for me! I shall fill it with riches and use it to escape this godforsaken family!

Megain can have it if it means getting rid of her

May I take the new one to Thailand, Mummy? Please please please. I want to make some young - um - new friends.

An up yours to Labour and Tony Blair, plus it will need to be constructed in a UK shipyard for political reasons so British jobs. A twofer.

What does 50 mill get you nowadays? The last one was fabulous a replacement to be equally fabulous would certainly cost more. Like 120 mil or there abouts

She'll be dead before they get it built.

Shut up, Kate/R13.

Good for them. I think it was a mistake to decommission the last one. The United Kingdom has always been a sea-faring nation.

r15 you sound like Hyacinth Bucket; singing 'rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves,' decked out in navy and blue sailor's attire; 'The United Kingdom has always been a sea-faring nation, Elizabeth'

In the 80's Paul Burrell was stationed on The Britannia and got himself into trouble having an orgy with other sailors onboard. The Queen pulled him aside and told him to find a nice girl to settle down with.

R16, No, I recently read that Rule Britannia isn't to be used anymore, because it's considered racist.

r4 Erm, everything? She could donate that money to the fucking government, who actually needs it.

£50 million for a new royal yacht, but the British taxpayer has to pay for maintenance, crew, harbor dues and transfer costs so the already entitled royal family can take fancy vacations once a year on an otherwise useless boat?

The Brits claim the availability of the old yacht befitted the UK to the tune of better than $4billion

Boris Johnson is considering plans to replace Royal Yacht Britannia with two new £150m ships paid for by the foreign aid budget, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Mr Johnson has been in talks with former International Development secretary Penny Mordaunt over plans dubbed "Britannia 2.0" for two new ships to be deployed around the world to help with relief efforts.

The new ships - with one called "Britannia" and the other names the "Florence Nightingale" or "Mary Seacole" - would be made available to members of the royal family for overseas tours to Commonwealth and other countries.

Tory MP Jake Berry, who has been campaigning for a new yacht for months, said the new vessel would act as a “floating trade mission to be used by industry around the globe in the interests of our nation”.

I consent.

£50m would pay for about 1/10 of a yacht the size of the old Britannia.

The queen of Denmark still has a royal yacht..

R13 What would be the timeframe for building such a ship as I think the Queen could easily live to 2030 given her gin drenched mother lived to 101?

Welfare for the rich. How Tory.

How is a private gift from a private individual "welfare", r25?

Face it. The Queen is simply better-liked than you.

Maybe Steve Jobs' widow will sell his yacht.

What do you get for the woman who has everything?

I eagerly await my invite to the christening.

The equivalent of leaving $10 million to your cat

Rofl, R30!

I've heard this described as a form of very high-level social climbing, the way the filthy rich ingratiate themselves with the richer, or the titled, or royalty... with the promise of massive bequests.

This came up on an Elton John thread.

Yachts depreciate like crazy. She's not used to new and modern. $50 M will easily purchase a massive and very well appointed superyacht that's a few years old. The Queen has rented a yacht several times so for her purposes, she doesn't need one built from scratch.

[quote] I've heard this described as a form of very high-level social climbing, the way the filthy rich ingratiate themselves with the richer, or the titled, or royalty... with the promise of massive bequests.

Haha, sounds like Trump.

Quid pro quo. Pay for play.

No wonder the Queen likes Trump.

[quote]No wonder the Queen likes Trump.

Where did you ever get this notion from? Do you also think she liked Nicolae Ceaușescu?

Jobs’ yacht looks like an iPhone.

The roof was in fact modeled after the original iPad, face down.

She wouldn't suit a superyacht, it'd be too gauche. She's not American. She'd be better off commissioning a small cruise liner.

For example, something along these lines, but brand new.

The UK’s richest woman? HA! The Windsors have been auctioning off heirlooms left and right, most recently one of dear, departed Diana’s dresses. It looks like they’re hard-up for cash.

I'm guessing she could travel more now, because yachts are more suited to old people travel, than airplanes.

Does the Queen actually travel abroad, any more?

Plus, old people like cruises, more than flying.

Why do billionaires spend so much money on superyachts when they hardly have time to use them anyway? I know it's the ultimate status symbol for the super rich, but it still puzzles me that someone would spend hundreds of millions on a boat you only use a couple of weeks a year.

"but it still puzzles me that someone would spend hundreds of millions on a boat you only use a couple of weeks a year."

I think most of them rent their yachts out when they're not using it. Offsets the cost, business tax breaks come into play and so forth. I saw a delightfully tacky refurbished yacht that was done in full blown Studio 54 style. I wish I could remember where I saw it so I could post links.

You know that boat is fully booked during the Cannes film festival,

[quote]The Windsors have been auctioning off heirlooms left and right, most recently one of dear, departed Diana’s dresses

Diana's dresses Windsor family heirlooms? Tee hee.

Diana's personal possessions would have gone to her sons, or maybe her Spencer relatives, and not the royal family. If anyone's auctioning her stuff, it's not the Queen.

Isn't Harry willing to do anything for a buck these days?

Harry was Diana's heir - she knew William was sorted.

R28, I suppose anal bleaching would be in poor taste?

^ I really like jk Rowling’s yacht The “Christina” once owned by Onassis is also beautiful and available to charter

Yachts are an insurance policy for the super rich. So they can escape in the event of a violent class war or nuclear disaster or pandemic. Hard to live on a private jet, even short term. And you need an airport.

No need to build a new one. The Britannia is fine. There are older yachts in service, again. Just redo it.

r47 JK Rowling never owned the Christina. She did buy Johnny Depp's yacht and sold it for a massive lost after just one year. She lost millions.

There should have been a period @R50