HRH The Princess Royal fired the historic Royal Yacht Squadron cannon today to start racing at North Sails Cowes Week, as the regatta celebrated 200 years of racing on the Solent.
The morning began with an impressive 21-gun salute from the Royal Yacht Squadron platform, before The Princess Royal took her place at the Squadron’s historic starting battery and fired the cannon to send the first fleet of the day into the Solent.
For generations of sailors, the boom of the Royal Yacht Squadron guns has been the unmistakable sound of Cowes Week. Two hundred years after seven yachts contested the first race off Cowes in 1826, today’s start provided a fitting link between the regatta’s extraordinary past and its third century.
Her Royal Highness then headed out onto the Solent to watch the Bicentenary racing at close quarters, joined by Royal Yacht Squadron Commodore Robert Bicket, the Lord-Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight, the Chair of Experience Cowes and their spouses, giving Her Royal Highness a close-up view of some of the more than 630 boats taking part in this year’s regatta.
It was familiar territory for The Princess Royal, whose connection to Cowes Week stretches from childhood to the racecourse itself.
As a girl, Her Royal Highness spent time aboard HMYBritannia during Cowes Week while her father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, raced on the Solent. She later became a competitor herself and, in 2014, raced aboard UKSA’s Farr 65 Albatross II, helming the yacht across the finish line ahead of sistership Whirlwind II, aboard which her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, was racing.
Today, The Princess Royal is Admiral of the Royal Yacht Squadron, Patron of the Island Sailing Club and Patron of UKSA, and has been a regular visitor to Cowes over many years.
Bruce Huber, Chairman Elect of Cowes Week Limited, said: “There could hardly have been a more fitting way to mark 200 years of Cowes Week than to see The Princess Royal fire the Royal Yacht Squadron cannon and send another generation of sailors out onto the Solent.
“Her Royal Highness has a very personal connection with Cowes Week – from watching her father race here as a girl to competing herself – and today she was able to see the Bicentenary racing at close quarters. Following the 21-gun salute, it made for an incredibly special morning and a memorable moment in the history of the regatta.”
Royalty has been part of the story of Cowes Week almost from its outset. The inaugural race was held on 10 August 1826, when seven yachts raced under the flag of the Royal Yacht Club for a Gold Cup. Just a year later, King George IV presented the King’s Cup, beginning a Royal association with racing in Cowes that has continued across generations.
From seven yachts in 1826 to more than 630 boats in 2026, much about Cowes Week has changed in two centuries. But as the Squadron cannon sounded across the Solent this morning and another fleet headed out to race, one of its oldest traditions was very much alive.
North Sails Cowes Week continues until Friday 7 August, culminating in the return of the iconic Cowes Week fireworks over the Solent.
