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London - Supporters of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II have floatedrival attempts to buy her a new yacht for her diamond jubilee toreplace the decommissioned Royal Yacht Britannia. A self-described "group of ordinary people" have launched theJubilee Yacht Appeal - under the slogan "yacht or not" - in whichfans of the monarch can either donate to a yacht or to a group ofcharities supported by the queen. They aim to raise £60 million (S$120 million) to buy "one ofthe top 100 yachts in the world" and present it to the queen andhusband Prince Philip in 2013, for use partly by them and partlyfor charity fundraisers. "It's a big challenge. It's about the people giving a gift to thequeen and her charities in the year of the jubilee," projectspokeswoman Elaine Skinner told AFP. "We haven't heard from Buckingham Palace but I am sure she would bevery happy about the project." The old Britannia, much-loved by the queen, was decommissioned in1997 and the monarch was seen to shed a tear at its farewell. Education minister Michael Gove suggested in January that thenation could give the queen a new royal yacht "to commemorate thismomentous occasion" of her 60 years on the throne. But Prime Minister David Cameron's spokeswoman moved fast to sinksuggestions that taxpayers might pay, after the idea met with scornamid cuts to public services under Cameron's austerity programme. A second new yacht project, the Commonwealth Flagship, would cost amore ambitious £100 million and be used partly fordevelopment and trade missions in the 54 countries, mostlyex-British colonies, that make up the Commonwealth. "This ship would have much the same mission (as Britannia) butprobably with less emphasis on the royal family, because I thinkperhaps these days people don't want the royal family to have aprivate yacht," said spokeswoman Marina Johnson. "We need to make sure that we get the public on our side - it's notan exclusive ship for royalty," she said. That project, founded by businessman Ian Maiden, would be funded bydonations from private philanthropists and Commonwealth countries,plus gifts "in kind", such as steel from India. Britain is to celebrate the queen's diamond jubilee with a four-daypublic holiday on June 2-5 and festivities including a pageant ofmore than 1,000 boats on the Thames. The monarch is said too have expressed a preference for low-keycelebrations in keeping with the economic crunch in Britain, whichslumped back into recession late last year. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Led Ceiling Panel Light Manufacturer , RGB Led Floodlight Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits High Bay Light Fittings.
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