MV_Spirit_of_Chartwell
MV Spirit of Chartwell
Hotel barge
MV Spirit of Chartwell is a hotel barge owned and operated by Portuguese holiday company Douro Azul for luxury cruises along the Douro river, Porto, Portugal.
Previously owned and operated by the Magna Carta Steamship Company for luxury cruises along the River Thames, she was selected in late 2011 to be the royal barge as part of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations, and carried the Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in a flotilla of more than 1,000 vessels during the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant on 3 June 2012.[2] The ship was sold in June 2012 to Douro Azul to operate luxury cruises in the Douro river.[3]
She was designed in the style of the Côte d'Azur Pullman Express deluxe train and carries artefacts from the original train and ocean liners such as RMS Kenya Castle, SS France and RMS Windsor Castle.[4]