Emerald Princess

Today, May the 9th, is Guernsey's National Holiday celebrating when the island was liberated from occupying forces at the end of World War II. Greeting the sunrise this morning was not the Royal Navy and Force 135, (the British Army liberating force), but the Emerald Princess with over 3,000 guests on board for a day visit. She left Fort Lauderdale on the 18th April on a positioning cruise to spend the summer in Europe. Twenty two days later on the 10th of May she will dock in Southampton after her "Western Europe Grand Adventure Cruise".

Shortly after arriving on the easterly anchorage in a strong south westerly wind, tenders were soon in the water for the shore party and the first guests. With the large number of guests on board numerous tenders were launched as well as a charter of the Herm Trident ferry.

Guernsey turns out in force for Liberation Day and with the extra numbers of guests from the Emerald Princess the parade for the Service of Remembrance had a large audience. The parade included  representatives of the crew of HMS Daring (Guernsey's adopted ship) and a number of Gurkha Rifles, and they were joined by Chelsea Pensioners for the church service.