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Lot Essay
Named for the Prince Regent, the future George IV, rather than his father, the ailing George III, the Royal George was built at Deptford in 1817 and bore all the hallmarks of the Regent's flamboyant taste. Carrying a full ship-rig on her three masts, she was measured at 330 tons burden and was 103 feet long on her main deck with a 26 foot beam. Luxuriously fitted out in a manner befitting her status, she attracted much attention - 'The vessel is the most elegant ever seen' wrote a contemporary observer, '... with gilt mouldings and the windows of plate-glass. Ornamental devices in abundance producing a superb appearance.'
After a remarkably colourful career during three reigns, Royal George's life as a working yacht came to an end in 1843, following the completion of the first royal steam yacht Victoria and Albert (I). Thereafter, relegated to the role of an accommodation ship for officers and men of the Royal Yacht flotilla and based at Portsmouth, she survived, astonishingly, until 1905 when she was finally broken up.
After a remarkably colourful career during three reigns, Royal George's life as a working yacht came to an end in 1843, following the completion of the first royal steam yacht Victoria and Albert (I). Thereafter, relegated to the role of an accommodation ship for officers and men of the Royal Yacht flotilla and based at Portsmouth, she survived, astonishingly, until 1905 when she was finally broken up.