Card of the Day: The King and Queen in the Royal Yacht "Britannia"

Throughout their married life, King George V and Queen Mary embarked on many an ocean voyage. Ever since her girlhood as Princess May of Teck, Queen Mary suffered terribly from sea-sickness and dreaded sea travel. She did, however, have a great passion for interior decoration and took great delight in appointing the State cabins to make them, as she said, “Comfortable.” Mary’s idea of “comfortable” involved setting the cabins up with countless works of art, valuable artifacts and family pictures, not to mention luxurious hangings and textiles. The reasons for this were two-fold—first of all, she wanted to ensure that she and her husband could travel in style, but also so that she’d have a familiar place to which she might retreat when she was invariable overcome by seasickness.

King George—being a sailor at heart—adored being aboard any ship, and though he worried about his wife’s discomfort, he relished the idea of a sea voyage. Each year, they’d take at least one sea journey, and would often attend naval events. Such an event is depicted in this card by the Wills’s Cigarette Company.

The reverse of the card reads:

THE KING AND QUEEN IN THE ROYAL YACHT “BRITANNIA”


The visit of the King and Queen to Cowes Regatta each year gives them a short care-free holiday from demands of State, and His Majesty is rarely happier than when racing in the Royal Yacht, Britannia. This grand old cutter, now in her fortieth year, did better than any of the big yachts at Cowes last season, carrying off two firsts in six races. A project the King with a new 30,000 pound yacht to celebrate his Jubilee, but the Sovereign considered that in hard times the money should be spent otherwise. A number of alterations are being made to improve the speed of Britannia this year.

Here's a photo of His Majesty at the yacht's helm.