All’s shipshape: Queen views her barge and the Cutty Sark

 
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25 April 2012

The Queen braved a huge downpour today as she was gifted her Diamond Jubilee barge and reopened the Cutty Sark.

Huge crowds saw her formally name the £1 million rowbarge Gloriana at Deptford, before going to Greenwich town centre to view the £50 million transformation of the last surviving tea clipper.

With the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen, 86, heard how the 143-year-old ship survived a fire in 2007 and has been lifted 11 feet to reveal sleek lines that made her the fastest sailing ship of her day.

Some 300 schoolchildren sang an orchestral and choral suite called Diamond Jubilee, written by local composer Errollyn Wallen.

Philip, patron of the Cutty Sark Trust, received the freedom of the royal borough, and joined the Queen to open an exhibition about the Thames at the National Maritime Museum, marking its 75th anniversary.

It includes the uniform and medals worn by her father, King George VI, as Admiral of the Fleet, when he opened the museum in 1937 – accompanied by an 11-year-old Princess Elizabeth.

The Duke of Cambridge will tonight plead for endangered species to be protected across Africa — including in Kenya, where he proposed to Kate.

The couple will see the UK premiere of Disney documentary African Cats at the BFI on the South Bank, where William will talk about the work of the Tusk Trust wildlife charity.

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