When the Queen launched job number 736 at John Brown's on the Clyde, on impulse, she attached the number 2 to the name of the Queen Elizabeth, much to the surprise of Cunard.
In the 41 years that followed, the QE2 was the most famous ship afloat, and in a mark of great affection, the Queen made a farewell visit on Monday, June 2, 2008.
The ship, which has been the flagship of the Cunard fleet for 35 years, was launched by the Queen on September 20, 1967, and left the fleet in November 2008 at the end of an illustrious career to become a hotel in Dubai.
QE2 ... farewell to the most
