• Home
• News
• Cruise Ships
• New Ships
• Cruise Lines
• PSA

Cunard to stage special Diamond Jubilee salute for the Queen

We are all used to royal fly-pasts but Cunard will be staging a unique sail-past to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in June.

It will celebrate the event by sailing the three Queens - Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2 - up the Solent in formation on June 5, the final day of the extended bank holiday Jubilee celebration.

The Queen names the Queen Elizabeth in Southampton in October 2010

The Queen has long been associated with Cunard, being the only person to have attended the naming of all three Cunard Elizabeths, beginning in 1938. 

This will be the first time the three ships of the Cunard fleet – the three largest Cunarders ever built – will have been seen arriving and departing together in formation at their home port of Southampton. 

Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2 will approach the port soon after first light on June 5, sailing in single file up the Solent, with a flotilla of small boats expected to welcome them in. 

As Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria tie up at their berths, Queen Mary 2 will follow on, turning in the upper swinging ground and then passing each ship in turn, with crew lining the foredeck of all three vessels, and the ships’ whistles sounding in salute of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee. 

Events will happen throughout the day, to create both an outstanding passenger experience and a fitting commemoration of the Queen’s 60 year reign.

The celebrations will culminate in an evening spectacular where all three ships will brought within close proximity of each other, and a fusillade of fireworks and special effects will light up the evening sky beyond them.

Queen Mary 2 will then lead Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria in single file down the Solent as all three ships set out on their celebratory Diamond Jubilee voyages.

Further details of the day’s events will be released in due course.

Says Cunard president Peter Shanks: “Cunard is delighted to be able to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in a way that will give everyone, especially our passengers, a truly remarkable day that they will feel proud to talk about for years to come, taking part in history and marking the sixty glorious years of Her Majesty’s reign in a fitting, memorable and spectacular way.”