Royal toast for TS Queen Mary
Princess Anne hosts reception to celebrate TS Queen Mary’s 90th Anniversary
Posted by Kay on February 10th, 2023
Princess Anne finding out about our Stormy Weather series
We were honoured to be invited to a champagne reception to celebrate TS Queen Mary’s 90th Anniversary. Royal Patron Princess Anne met supporters and volunteers helping bring the ship back into operation at an event in Glasgow’s Central Hotel (and just a few hundred metres away from the ship’s original home base at Bridge Wharf). Princess Anne also spent some time with us hearing about our Stormy Weather series and talking with Kay about her father’s time as Captain and as Mate.
Queen Mary was one of Captain Robin Hutchison’s favourite ships describing it as “ …quite simply a magnificent cruising ship and a real pleasure to be on.” The ship was launched in 1933 and served on the Clyde up until her withdrawal at the end of the summer season in 1977. She was seen as the most luxurious of vessels and a Clyde favourite.
TS Queen Mary spent most of the next 40 years on the Thames as a floating restaurant, with her enginesand equipment removed to provide more space for her hospitality functions. She returned to the Clyde in 2016 and is now the focus of an ambitious project to re-engine the ship and make her seaworthy again.
The ship is featured in the book Hurricane Hutch’s Top 10 Ships of the Clyde and in the audiobook narrated by renowned actor and enthusiast Bill Paterson –
The restoration project is led by ‘Friends of TS Queen Mary’.
The Stormy Weather episode on TS Queen Mary can be found
