The things you learn listening to Radio 4. I had no idea coronation chicken was created in 1953 for a banquet to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, although the name is a bit of a giveaway. I hear chefs are now hard at work on a recipe for a cake to celebrate her platinum jubilee.
It got me thinking about how I’d like to celebrate her remarkable 70 years on the throne. Street parties are all very well but something to remember long after the plates were cleared away is much more appealing.
Surprise, surprise, I decided on a cruise but one with royal connections, of course! Cunard’s three Queens are obvious contenders because of their names and the fact they were christened by the Queen and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. Princess Cruises Royal Princess, named by the Duchess of Cambridge in a gala ceremony in Southampton, is also in the running.
Or maybe a cruise where destinations have a royal connection. Edinburgh, home of the Royal Mile and the Royal Yacht Britannia, springs to mind. Silversea, Oceania Cruises and Princess Cruises are calling into the city this summer on round-Britain cruises and have various royal-themed tours. Go with Silversea and you can even have breakfast on the Royal Yacht.
India was independent when the Queen ascended the throne but it’s got loads of royal connections and is just a wonderful place to visit - a riot of colour, people and sights. Several lines call into Mumbai and Cochin on their world cruises but for the ultimate royal escape, it has to be Uniworld River Cruises’ Golden Triangle and Ganges voyages.
You get New Delhi, the Taj Mahal and the beautiful Pink City of Jaipur on the tour and bustling Kolkata on the cruise. Pride of place there goes to the striking Victoria Memorial, built in memory of our other long-serving British queen. It’s in Kolkata because that was the capital of the British Raj when work began but by the time it was finished in 1921, the capital had moved to New Delhi.
Jamaica, one of the stops on William and Kate’s recent Caribbean tour, offers a very different royal adventure. The island is a favourite on the West Indies cruise circuit with Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean International, Holland America Line, P&O Cruises and others. And no wonder. This is where Ian Fleming wrote his James Bond novels and where you can climb gushing Dunn’s River Falls (not as easy as it sounds), swim with dolphins and even speed down a mountain on a bobsled. If that sounds a little too adventurous, there are gorgeous sandy beaches made for lazing.
Or follow in the footsteps of the Cambridges to Seychelles, the Indian Ocean idyll they put on the map when they honeymooned there in 2011. They splashed the cash in a swanky resort but I reckon island-hopping around the archipelago on Emerald Yacht Cruises Emerald Sakara, a superyacht sister to Emerald Azzurra launching next year, is a better bet. Just 100 passengers, suites fit for a king and days ashore up close to exotic birds, giant tortoises, snorkelling or swimming. There are four sailings in early 2023 (so not the jubilee year but too irresistible to exclude on a mere technicality!), each visiting eight islands including Mahé, where the cruises start and end.
But back to the Queen as after all, it is her jubilee year, and back to Scotland given Balmoral is her favourite holiday retreat. Cue a voyage around Scotland on what else? Fred. Olsen’s Balmoral. Choose the Scenic Isles and Celtic Cities sailing in September and you visit Edinburgh and John O’Groats, sail past mysterious Fingal’s Cave, which counts Queen Victoria among visitors and call into Falmouth, in the Duchy of Cornwall. I reckon that makes it a right royal flush!
