女王要一個新遊艇，英國政府不批准
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A secret letter written by the Queen shows how the monarch tearfully lobbied the Cabinet Office for a replacement for the royal yacht Britannia after it was decommissioned 1997 in order to avoid a public backlash over the expensive vessel.
女王曾經寫過一封密信，這封信中女王聲淚俱下地遊說內閣給她置辦一艘新遊艇，以替換掉舊的王室遊艇“布列塔尼亞號”；舊的王室遊艇在1997年被退役了，爲的是不讓它的昂貴維護費激起民憤。
The Britannia was launched at the beginning of the Queen’s reign and was furnished to her taste – but decades later it had become too expensive to maintain, and increasingly hard to justify to the public.
“布列塔尼亞號”於女王統治初期開始服役，按照女王的品味裝修，但過了數十年保養費用過高，越來越難於向公衆交代。
The royal yacht – the jewel in the Queen’s beloved fleet – was decommissioned in 1997, with then Prime Minister John Major announcing it would be retired from service in 1995.
這艘王室遊艇是女王心愛艦隊中的珍寶，於1997年退役，約翰·梅傑首相原本宣佈它會於1995年退役。
The Queen famously shed a tear when the boat, which was valued at around £60million, was taken out of service in 1997.
衆所周知，在1997年這艘價值約6000萬英鎊的遊艇退役時，女王還流下了眼淚。
大不列顛號，圖片來源@視覺中國
But shortly after Mr Major made the announcement, senior Buckingham Palace official Sir Kenneth Scott wrote to the Cabinet Office, detailing how the Queen “would very much welcome” a new yacht – but also acknowledged that the Queen’s lobbying would be unpopular with the public if her letter came to light.
但在梅傑先生剛宣佈完不久，白金漢宮政府官員Kenneth Scott就寫信給內閣辦公室，詳述了女王“多麼希望”有一艘新遊艇，但同時也說了如果這封信被曝光，女王的遊說行徑肯定會在人民中間激起微詞。
圖片來源@視覺中國
The letter, discovered in the National Archives by University of London professor Phillip Murphy and dated May 5, 1995, read:
這封信是被倫敦大學教授Phillip Murphy在國家檔案館發現的，上面標註的日期是1995年5月5日，信中寫道：
“I have deliberately taken a back seat in recent correspondence, since the question of whether there should be a replacement yacht is very much one for the Government and since the last thing I would like to see is a newspaper headline saying ‘Queen Demands New Yacht’.”
“最近的通信中我刻意在迴避，因爲是否該換掉遊艇的決定卻確實在政府手上，而且我最不願意看到報紙頭條上寫‘女王要求買新遊艇’”。
“At the same time I hope it is clear to all concerned that this reticence on the part of the palace now way implies that Her Majesty is not deeply interested in the subject; on the contrary, the Queen would naturally very much welcome it if a way could be found of making available for the nation in the 21st Century the kind of service which Britannia has provided for the last 43 years.”
“同時我希望大家都清楚現在王室的沉默表明女王對這個話題不是很感興趣，恰恰相反，如果在21世紀能找到一種方法繼續‘布列塔尼亞號’在過去43年間提供的服務的話，女王自然也會欣然接受。”
圖片來源@視覺中國
In 2003, a source told the Sunday Telegraph that the monarch would have never put pressure on the government over a politically sensitive subject, saying: “Neither the Queen or the Duke of Edinburgh have ever expressed an opinion on the way the issue was handled and nor would they do so.”
2003年有人對《星期日電訊報》爆料稱：女王從未就政治敏感話題對政府施壓過，同時說：“愛丁堡公爵或女王都從未對這一問題的處理方法發表過看法，他們也不會這樣做。”
But the note from Mr Scott, the queen’s private secretary, revealed her “deep interest” in finding a replacement for the beloved vessel.
但女王的私人祕書斯科特先生的記錄顯示了她對換掉心愛遊艇的“濃厚的興趣”。
Professor Murphy, director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, said of his letter discovery: “It is clear that behind the scenes the palace, which had been closely informed of the progress of discussions, was keen to keep the issue alive and was putting discreet pressure on Whitehall to come up with some alternative proposals.”
英聯邦研究所所長墨菲教授在提及這封信的發現時說：“王室時刻跟進討論的進程，顯然這件事的背後王室很想讓這個問題繼續下去，並對英國政府祕密施壓，讓其提供一些可選方案。”
Britannia was originally meant to be broken into parts on the request of Prince Philip and used in a new yacht, among a host of other options after the vessel was taken off waters.
在遊艇被拖出水後的衆多方案中，最初是打算要應菲利普親王的要求把“布列塔尼亞號”拆開用在新遊艇上。
However, a new vessel was never commissioned to replace Britannia, following opposition from Tony Blair’s Labour Government, who used the issue as part of their election winning campaign in 1997.
然而由於託尼·布萊爾工黨政府的反對，一直沒有新遊艇代替“不布列塔尼亞號”，布萊爾也利用這件事贏得了1997年的大選。
圖片來源@視覺中國
But lobbying for a replacement vessel has continued to this day, while the original ship is berthed at Leith in Edinburgh, where it has become a tourist attraction.
但遊艇換新的遊說目前仍在繼續，原遊艇停泊在愛丁堡利斯港，現已成爲旅遊景點。
In 2017, 50 Tory MP’s signed an open letter proposing a special national lottery to raise around £120 million for a new yacht as a “symbol of Global Britain” after the UK leaves the EU in 2019.
2017年50位保守黨議員簽署了一封公開信，提議發行一個特殊的國家彩票來籌集約1.2億英鎊買一艘新遊艇，作爲2019年英國脫歐之後的“全球英國的象徵”。
編輯：梅園西牆的王半仙
兼職編輯：菲菲
