ONE of Scotland’s top tourist attractions, the Royal Yacht Britannia at Leith, is set to gain a massive publicity boost next week when Britain’s newest cruise liner is given the same name by Her Majesty The Queen.

It will be the second time in her reign that the Queen has named a ship Britannia, having launched the royal yacht of that name at John Brown’s yard in Clydebank in April 1953, shortly before her coronation on June 2.

At 141,000 tons, the new P&O cruise liner Britannia is almost 25 times the size of the royal yacht that was part of the Royal Navy until it was decommissioned in December, 1997, at a memorable ceremony in which the Royal Family played a major part in saying goodbye to their former floating tour home.

The Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, will name the new Britannia at a ceremony in Southampton next Tuesday that will be available to view worldwide via live streaming on Youtube.

Television crews and journalists have already descended on the Royal Yacht Britannia at her berth in Leith, and it was revealed yesterday that the new liner is paying tribute to her famous namesake by featuring her in the lavish decor of the new ship.

There will also be a visit to the Forth of Forth by the new Britannia when she will berth off Newhaven in July, with passengers on an inaugural Round Britain cruise expected to go ashore by tender to visit the original Britannia.

The new Britannia can carry more than 4,200 passengers, and P&O is suggesting it will be an opportunity “to combine two iconic British vessels in one journey”.

Bob Downie, who has been chief executive of the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust since it was set up, is very happy that P&O chose to name its ship after "his" vessel.

“We think it is brilliant because they are promoting us,” said Downie, “and though she is too big to come in to Leith Harbour, we are really looking forward to the visit in July – we expect a huge amount of publicity then.

“Their people and out people have been in contact and we are all optimistic that it will be a memorable part of the itinerary on their tour round Britain.”

Eyebrows were raised at first when the name of the new Britannia was announced, but the Queen is understood to have personally approved it and it was pointed out that P&O had previously had ships of that name, the second of which entered service with the company to mark Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887.

No fewer than five warships called HMS Britannia served in the Royal Navy between 1682 and 1918, the last of them a battleship sunk by a German U-Boat.

The designation HMS Britannia then transferred to a naval training establishment whose name was changed again to HMS Dartmouth upon the launching of the much-loved Royal Yacht Britannia, which travelled more than a million miles in 44 years of service to the Royal Family.

The royal yacht has done sterling service to the tourist trade in Leith, Edinburgh and Scotland as a whole, and has received the top quality mark from VisitScotland nine years in a row, as well as being named TripAdvisor’s top UK attraction in 2014.

Downie said: “We have now been here for 17 years and things are going exceptionally well. We have had about 300,000 visitors per year for the last three years and we recently purchased MV Windsor Castle to add to our attractions as a floating ‘boatique’ hotel.

“Windsor Castle used to be the Northern Lighthouse Board’s tender Fingal before she became a passenger ship. As a youngster growing up in Oban I have very fond memories of seeing the Fingal and I am delighted that the long-term future of another much-loved classic vessel has been secured.

“The new Britannia can only help us to promote our attractions here.”