Vintage Cunard R.M.S. Queen Mary Plates - Set of 4
Vintage Cunard R.M.S. Queen Mary Plates - Set of 4
$78.00
Learn More About R.M.S. Queen Mary
Named for Mary of Teck, Queen Consort to George V, and launched by her namesake on September 26, 1934, the RMS Queen Mary's voyage to the sea was long and storied with many twists and turns.
As the Great Depression took its toll on transatlantic travel and luxury steamship lines and Cunard's newest project Hull #534 had stalled in 1931 amid financing challenges, the British government stepped in with a loan to bridge the gap. Once condition of the finance scheme was the merger of the nation's two great luxury steamship lines - Cunard and White Star. Combining forces in 1934 as one company, the Cunard White Star Line, these grand ships continued to carry passengers around the world in the style and comfort for which they were renowned while construction on the as yet unnamed Hull #534 resumed.
Until her launch, the name of Project 534 was a closely guarded secret. Cunard intended to name the ship Victoria, after Queen Victoria, in keeping with its legacy of ship names ending in "ia", but when company representatives asked permission from King George to name the ocean liner after Britain's "greatest queen", he reportedly said his wife, Mary, would be delighted.
Woods from different regions of the British Empire were employed in public rooms and staterooms. Among the facilities available on board Queen Mary, the liner featured 2 indoor swimming pools in addition to beauty salons, libraries and children's nurseries for all classes of travel - 1st, 2nd and 3rd. In addition, a music studio, lecture hall, telephone service to anywhere in the world, outdoor paddle tennis courts, and dog kennels brought an elevated sense of connectivity and culture to this floating palace.
In addition to troops, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was transported across the Atlantic on three occasions for meetings with fellow Allied forces officials. Listed on passenger manifests as "Colonel Warden", he and his staff planned the Normandy Invasion on one such crossing in 1943, also signing the D-Day Declaration on that voyage. Churchill later stated that the Queen ships (including the newer RMS Queen Elizabeth), "challenged the fury of Hitlerism in the battle of the Atlantic. Without their aid, the day of final victory must unquestionably have been postponed.” By the war's end, the Queen Mary had carried over 800,000 troops and traveled over 600,000 miles across the world's oceans.
After returning to passenger duty following the war, the vessel completed her 1,001st and last crossing of the North Atlantic on September 27, 1967. Although her transatlantic travel days are long behind, the Queen Mary remains a grand floating hotel and tourist destination, docked in Long Beach, California.