By
Travelmail Reporter
08:23 EST, 25 March 2013
|
08:23 EST, 25 March 2013
The royal barge on which the Queen sailed in to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee last year is to be transformed into a luxury cruise boat for tourists in Portugal.
The Spirit of Chartwell has been bought by a Portuguese company and will be used to ferry passengers along the Douro River near the city of Porto.
Grand makeover: The Spirit of Chartwell carried the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in last year’s flotilla
The barge, which underwent a
£1 million makeover for the Thames river pageant, carried the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in the 1,000-strong flotilla from Battersea to Tower Bridge last June.
The boat’s new owner, river cruise company DouroA ul, said it planned to ‘keep the charm’ of the vessel after moving it to Portugal.
Mario Ferreira, chief executive of DouroA ul, said the Portuguese region provided the ‘perfect surrounding’ for the famous barge.
‘I saw the glamour of the images of the Jubilee,’ he said.
‘I saw the royal barge was so big and thought, ‘what are they going to do with it afterwards?’
‘I think the Douro Valley is the
perfect surrounding. The ambience, our culture, the alliance between
Portugal and England for more than 100 years. I think it’s a great home for the vessel.’
Back to basics: The pleasure cruiser was entirely stripped just days after the Diamond Jubilee river pageant
The Spirit of Chartwell was lavishly decorated for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in red, gold and purple, reminiscent of royal barges of the 17th and 18th century.
Among the additions were thousands of flowers, an ornate gilded prow sculpture of Old Father Thames, and a large red velvet banner with a royal coat of arms made of more than half a million gold-coloured buttons.
It took six months of work to turn the pleasure cruiser into a boat that was suitable for the unique occasion but it was entirely stripped just days later.
Mr Ferreira said that most of the interior decorations had been retained but a new front to the barge has been installed.
The 64-metre-long vessel features
14 luxurious cabins, a Royal suite, a restaurant, a piano bar and a
spacious open-air upper-deck.
Prices will range from £362 for a two-night cruise to £2,129 for a seven-night cruise.
Tourist attraction: The boat will be used to ferry cruise passengers along the Douro River in Porto
‘It is important to keep the charm that it has because it’s a very charming vessel’, Mr Ferreira said.
‘The original front is in a museum in England so we have a second one to keep the spirit.
‘The interior is as it was, most of the rooms weren’t even used, they were still brand new.
‘It’s a great opportunity for the people that saw that event and saw that beautiful vessel to come and experience it, have a relaxed trip and be treated like royalty.’
Previous owner Philip Morrell had reportedly planned for the royal barge to sail between Kent and Surrey offering luxury cruises on the Thames through central London.
However the plans were scuppered when an agreement could not be reached with the Port of London for a stretch of the river at Richmond.
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Queen"s Diamond Jubilee barge to be transformed into a luxury tourist boat
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