Two hundred years after seven yachts gathered off Cowes for the first race in 1826, The Princess Royal returned to the Isle of Wight for the opening weekend of the Bicentenary Regatta, which this year has brought more than 630 boats to the Solent.
HRH The Princess Royal joined sailors, organisers and the Cowes community Sunday as North Sails Cowes Week began its historic 200th anniversary celebrations.
At Commodores House, The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust’s Sailing Through Royal History exhibition explores Britannia’s connection with Cowes, the Royal Family’s love of sailing and their links with legendary Cowes yacht designer Uffa Fox.
At its centre is Coweslip, the Flying Fifteen presented to the then Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip in 1949 as a belated wedding gift from the people of Cowes, now restored and back in the town where she was built and launched.
For The Princess Royal, that history is also personal. As a girl, she spent time aboard HMY Britannia during Cowes Week while her father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, raced on the Solent.
She later became a Cowes Week competitor herself, racing aboard UKSA’s Farr 65 Albatross II in 2014 and helming the yacht across the finish line ahead of sistership Whirlwind II, aboard which her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, was racing.
Today, The Princess Royal is Admiral of the Royal Yacht Squadron, Patron of the Island Sailing Club and Patron of UKSA, continuing a connection with sailing and Cowes that spans generations.
North Sails Cowes Week continues until Friday 7 August.
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