Built for King Edward VII - when Prince of Wales - in 1893, Britannia was probably the most celebrated of all the great racing cutters and her career spanned both golden eras of British yachting. In the 1895 Season she won 33 firsts out of 39 starts and competed against all the fastest yachts of the day. Due in part to the Kaiser's jealousy, the Prince's interest in yachting waned and he sold Brittania in 1897, only then to buy her back in 1901 for use in cruising. In 1921, in order to start big class racing again, her new owner King George V fitted her out anew and her first few seasons under his command were highly successful. Although she changed her rig seven times in all, the last occasion to the Bermudian in 1931, her hull shape was so efficient that she remained competitive almost to the very end of her long career. Finally outclassed by the bigger J-class boats, she was withdrawn from racing after Cowes Week in 1935 and never sailed again. Having competed in a total of 569 races, she had won an astonishing 231 first prizes as well as a further 129 awards for second or third place. In the winter of 1935 King George V's health began to deteriorate and he died in January the following year. Under the terms of the King's will, Brittania was stripped of her salvagable gear and, having been towed out to sea, was scuttled off the southern tip of the Isle of Wight on 9 July 1936 where her remains still lie.

Westward, 323 tons and built by Nat Herreshoff at Rhode Island in 1910, was one of the largest racing schooners whose career also fell into two distinct phases. She too had royal connections having been originally purchased - at the Kaiser's instigation - by a syndicate of German businessmen who renamed her Hamburg. In a brilliant start she won all eleven races in her first season and then enjoyed many other successes in the years preceding the Great War. Sold out of German ownership after the Armistice, her new American owner Clarence Hatry restored her original name and his first season in 1920 almost equalled the triumphs of 1910. It was after her sale to T.B.F. Davis in 1924 however that she finally came into her own when she became a regular challenge to Britannia. Over the years Davis and King George V developed a great though friendly rivalry and Westward became such a prized possession of Davis that he, like the King, stipulated that his boat also was to be sunk after his death.