Could there have been a better script written for the arrival of Cunard’s new ship, the simply-named Queen Elizabeth? The Queen herself will preside over the naming ceremony next month in Southampton, England’s cruising hub.
People more knowledgeable than we are believed all along that this was an inevitable match for the “naming ceremony” so there is no surprise in the news announced yesterday by Cunard. But that’s only part of the story.
The much-loved Queen, now 84, was on the docks when Cunard’s original ship of the same name was christened in Scotland. She was 12. She was with her mother, also named Queen Elizabeth. Neither was the reason for the ship’s name, which was in memory of the first Queen Elizabeth, who died in 1603.
There’s more.
Queen Elizabeth II (the monarch) christened Queen Elizabeth II (the ship) in 1967. She was then 51. It’s possible her mother, addressed as Queen Elizabeth while never a reigning monarch, was present that day, too.
So there have been three Cunard ships named Queen Elizabeth, and come October 11 this Queen will have been present for the naming ceremonies of all three, over a span of 72 years.
If nothing else, it is a remarkable story for the ages.