The royal yacht HMY Britannia berthed at the port of Leith in Edinburgh in Scotland, now a tourist attraction. The yacht is fairly huge, and makes for a good visit. Tourists can access many portions of the royal yacht and also do photography, and it is one of the places where you can see how royalty lives. This photo shows the slightly cramped quarters for the crew, with the 3 rows of bunk beds, one on top of the other. Since the yacht is now decommissioned, these places are preserved as an example of the crew conditions when the yacht was active. How often do you get to see how royalty live ? When such a ship gets decomissioned, where does it finally come to rest or does it get torn down ? Well, the royal yacht, HMY (Her Majesty's Yacht) Britannia, was commissioned in 1954 and was finally decomissioned in 1997, after a long period of 43 years in use. It was first used by the Queen of England in 1954, and also played host to some US Presidents during that time period. The Yacht was also seen as a floating bunker, since it was supposed to hide along with the Queen off the coast of Scotland.
The Yacht was tended to by a crew comprising of members of the general service of the Royal Navy, volunteers who could opt to serve on board the yacht (and some served for as much as 20 years). When the Queen was on board, there would also be a platoon of Royal Marines on the yacht. This was not the first yacht to be designated as a royal yacht, since royal ships have been in service since 1660. However, after the ship was decommissioned, there has been no replacement royal yacht, and it would seem that in times of austerity, there would be no such ship for the royalty of England in the future.
After decommissioning, the ship was berthed in the port of Leith in Edinburgh in Scotland, and is now a tourist attraction, part of the various tourist packages for visitors in Edinburgh, and draws around 250,000 visitors every year. The Yacht is also available for hire for evening events.