Not RMS!

[Rob Lightbody]

As QE2 was steaming towards the Falklands she was an RMS.... either that or the shipboard printers got it all wrong...

The people on board frequently got that wrong. I'm certain she was never an RMS, I even saw the relevant registry papers in Dubai!  However it may well be the case that she was commonly referred to as this, but it doesn't mean they were right!

[Twynkle]

As QE2 was steaming towards the Falklands she was an RMS.... either that or the shipboard printers got it all wrong...

Just as a matter of interest - wouldn't QE2 have had RMS painted on her bow, on her stern, on the wind scoop, and even more importantly engraved on her builders plate, had Cunard wanted her to be referred to as a Royal Mail ship?!
Holy Nougat confirms above that the prefix RMS wasn't used on her logs and other legal documentation.
Flagship confirms above that Cunard didn't wish her to be classed as an RMS.
Perhaps it wasn't corrected formally, because for some people (possibly the printers et al) the prefix might have been a convenient way of maintaining a particular sort of status?

[Lynda Bradford]

Quote from Flagship, Post 18

QE2 was entitled to be an RMS but was never made so for the reasons so far given........

.....However, this ruling does not seem to have been adhered to on the ship itself. Examples of cabin stationary (printed on board) clearly state 'RMS Queen Elizabeth 2' and several merchandise items do too. I think that is where the confusion comes from.

I was thinking about Flagship's quote in post number 18 regarding cabin stationery printed onboard using RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 when I recently came across these two items. 

The first is a Cunard Landing arrangements leaflets for 8 June 1974 where you can see the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 is used. 

The second item dated 2 June 1974 is a letter from John Sawyer, Hotel Manager, arrangements for New York.  Again you can see RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 at the top of the letter.

Both of these items verify what Flagship has posted. 

[Rob Lightbody]

I thought you might all be interested in the following that I've put together after speaking directly to Michael Gallagher and Ian McNaught.  I'm going to use it to attempt, again, to correct one of the many inaccuracies on the QE2's messy Wikipedia page.

https://www.theqe2story.com/aboutQE2/NotRMSQE2.html

[Rod]

Well I guess that my Falkland Island pewter beet tankard is ...right out of ths wall!!


It says LPLL!

[Stowaway2k]

QE2's messy Wikipedia page

which seems to be one person's jealously guarded private domain.

Who is this person?

[Rob Lightbody]

I have so far managed to get the title of the page changed to remove RMS and also have now edited the text.  It's been an 'interesting' process. If I want to remove the letters RMS, I have to prove she wasn't one, citing a source. However the person who originally wrote it was incorrect and didn't have to cite a source.

References in books are treated as gospel by Wikipedia even though, as Ian mcnaught says, they're often incorrect...

We have a whole separate Wikipedia topic. Sorry for taking this off topic.

[cunardqueen]

and from some promotional adverts...

[holynougat]

I tried editing the wikipedia article to remove RMS a few years ago but my edits were removed within 48 hours...

[Rob Lightbody]

I tried editing the wikipedia article to remove RMS a few years ago but my edits were removed within 48 hours...

This has taken me many months to achieve, but so far my edits have remained in place.

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Here is the QE2 letterbox, which at the time I thought was there because I mistakenly thought she was an RMS :


Postbox by Isabelle Prondzynski, on Flickr

I wondered about the initial though : GR VI? Was this an old letterbox already when it was installed?

[Chris Hodges]

King George 6th 1936-1952
Maybe this letter box was originally on the Queen Elizabeth and transfered to QE2 ??

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

King George 6th 1936-1952
Maybe this letter box was originally on the Queen Elizabeth and transfered to QE2 ??

And when was it last used -- up to when was it functioning as a letterbox?

[Thomas Hypher]

The letterbox is still in the same place onboard in Dubai, outside where the Library and Bookshop used to be on Quarter Deck. One wonders if it will be used...I think I've heard plans it might be but time will tell.

[Michael Gallagher]

Not sure the box was from either of the Queens as here is what a post box looked like on Queen Elizabeth. Granted each class would have had a box and I think they would have all been in this style and I'm sure Queen Mary would have been similar...