On Sunday 7 May, Brunel’s SS Great Britain will celebrate the coronation of HRH King Charles III with a right-royal afternoon tea experience.
Visitors can step on board the ship and tuck into a delicious selection of treats in the ship’s luxurious First Class Dining Saloon.
Guests can choose either a 1pm or a 3pm sitting, and will be able to indulge in finger sandwiches, mini savouries, scrumptious scones, and elegant macaroons.
The ship’s First Class Dining Saloon would have hosted first-class passengers during voyages, and has been lovingly restored by the SS Great Britain Trust’s Interpretation team.
Known as the world’s first great ocean liner, SS Great Britain now rests in the very dock where Brunel built her – the Great Western Dockyard in Bristol’s Floating Harbour.
The SS Great Britain’s afternoon tea experience will run on selected Sundays across the summer. In addition to the Coronation weekend, guests can experience tea in the most opulent of settings on the following dates:
25 June
23 July
20 August
24 September
The Coronation afternoon tea experience costs £39.95 per adult (£25 per child) and includes full access to the ship, the historic dockyard, dry dock and museums – from midday until close.
The ship’s royal connections
Over the years, the ship has played host to a series of royal visitors, including her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II who stepped aboard on 26 July 1985 to explore the ship and open the museum’s maritime heritage centre.
Her consort, HRH Prince Philip also had a special connection with the SS Great Britain, having been on deck as Brunel’s great ship returned to Bristol in 1970. HRH Prince Philip became the SS Great Britain Trust’s first patron, a position now taken on by HRH The Princess Royal.
The SS Great Britain’s links with royalty began in 1843 when Prince Albert, the consort of Queen Victoria, was invited to attend its launch in Bristol. Queen Victoria also visited the ship on 22 April 1845, during the SS Great Britain’s five-month stay on the Thames for her final fitting out. Brunel himself showed the Queen and Prince Albert a model of the engines and screw propeller.
The visit definitely left an impression on Queen Victoria who wrote in her journal later that day; ‘All the fittings & decorations are very fine, and everything made as comfortable as possible, but I should not much care to go to sea, with such a quantity of passengers, or in such a long, narrow ship.’
Related
Comments
Comments are disabled for this post.
