Skip to main content

HRH The Princess Royal Pays a Royal Visit to Portsmouth’s HMS Victory to see conservation in action

Date published 14/05/2024
Written by The National Museum of the Royal Navy
HRH The Princess Royal visiting HMS Victory in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal paid a special visit to the Historic Ships workshop and HMS Victory at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, on Thursday 9th May 2024. HRH was joined by Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Trustee of the HMS Victory Preservation Company, to see HMS Victory’s team of shipwrights and conservationists at work on the 258 year old ship. 

The National Museum of the Royal Navy is fighting to protect HMS Victory for future generations in a ten year, £42m conservation project - said to be the biggest restoration project outside of Notre Dame in Paris.

HRH experienced this conservation live, as part of the Big Repair project. Multi-story scaffolding currently encases the ship’s 3600-tonne weight, which is suspended by awe-inspiring engineering, meaning HRH was able to see the most famous flagship of the Royal Navy from almost every angle.  

Matthew Sheldon, Interim Director General of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, added:

“It was such a privilege to host Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, onboard HMS Victory. We are very proud of the ground breaking work that our team of scientists, conservationists and shipwrights are putting into the Big Repair. What we’re learning here will benefit other conservation projects across the UK and beyond. We hope Her Royal Highness thoroughly enjoyed the experience.”

Victory Live: The Big Repair gives you the chance to see HMS Victory from a completely different perspective. For an in-depth look at the incredible restoration work happening right now.