All aboard Britannia for pre-wedding party

Published on Sunday 24 July 2011 18:52

ZARA Phillips and Mike Tindall are to host a private pre-wedding bash on board the former royal yacht Britannia on Friday night.

Guests will include members of the Royal Family and a number of Tindall's team-mates.

Britannia, which was decommissioned in 1997 and is berthed at Ocean Terminal in Leith, was used by Zara's now-divorced parents, the Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips, for their honeymoon in 1973.

A friend of the young couple said: "Zara and Mike thought it would be rather special to throw a party on Britannia.

"It will be a private affair and a chance for those nearest and dearest to the happy couple to come together ahead of the wedding."

Britannia will be closed to members of the public on Friday, despite being one of Scotland's top visitor attractions - it gets more than 250,000 visitors each year.

The royal yacht, built at John Brown's shipyard on the Clyde, was launched by the Queen in April 1953.

Among its other official uses, the vessel took members of the Royal Family on an annual sail round the Western Isles.