Princess Anne visits Govan to check on restoration progress of historic TS Queen Mary

HRH The Princess Royal, Anne, has met supporters, volunteers and funders involved in the restoration of the TS Queen Mary two years on from announcing the historic Clyde steamer will sail again.

Her Royal Highness was in Glasgow to learn of the progress of the restoration and round off the ship’s year-long 90th anniversary celebrations at the city’s Hilton Hotel.

The restoration work has gathered pace in the two years since HRH The Princess Royal made the announcement on a visit to the ship - currently berthed in Govan.

It was a landmark development for the historic steamer which was named after her great grandmother Queen Mary. The fundraising stands at over £5 million – half way to the anticipated cost of making her fit to resume her role as the premier steamer which sailed on the Firth of Clyde.

Originally, it was envisaged that TS Queen Mary would be permanently berthed at Pacific Quay at Glasgow Science Centre and have a heritage and maritime training focus drawing people to the location and this is still part of the plan. Glasgow Science Centre have provided invaluable support to the ongoing work of the charity.

However, HRH The Princess Royal’s announcement in March 2022 that it been decided she would sail again will provide a boost to Scotland’s tourism and notably Clyde coast resorts such as Rothesay and Dunoon which were familiar destinations in the ship’s heyday.

The charity Friends of TS Queen Mary – tasked with the restoration - says it has been “overwhelmed by the generosity of corporate donors and individuals” keen to see the ship restored to its former glory.

Built at Dumbarton in 1933, TS Queen Mary was successfully towed back to the Clyde from London in a marathon voyage along the coast of the United Kingdom in 2015.

At the height of her success, TS Queen Mary carried 13,000 passengers each week and was known as “Britain’s Finest Pleasure Steamer”.

No other Clyde steamer carried anywhere near the number of Royalty that it did including King George V, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and the then Princesses Elizabeth, Margaret and Lord Mountbatten of Burma.

Other famous names to step aboard included US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein and music hall legend Sir Harry Lauder.

Her last time cruising was in September 1977 and TS Queen Mary completed her last sailing with her reputation as the largest, most luxurious and prestigious steamer on the Clyde intact.

Iain Sim, Chairman of the Friends of TS Queen Mary said: “We are delighted to welcome back to Glasgow our Royal Patron HRH The Princess Royal. Our ongoing endeavour to ensure TS Queen Mary sails again on the Clyde continues to gather pace with some significant progress in the last year.

“We feel very privileged to have HRH The Princess Royal as our Royal Patron – celebrating, as it does the important link with the Royal Family which the ship is renowned for.”