Queen Mary 2 and sister ships Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria sailed in formation from Lisbon to the UK ahead of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh’s visit to celebrate Queen Mary 2’s 10^th anniversary in Southampton on Friday (May 9). For the first time ever, the three Cunard Queens were photographed side-by-side at sea as part of a shoot that took months of meticulous planning. Queen Mary 2 is on the final leg of its World Cruise and its sister ships were on hand to escort her home in style. Photographer James Morgan took to the skies in a helicopter to capture these iconic shots of the three ships sailing abreast of one another. James commented, “It’s all about orchestrating the manoeuvre in advance. When you are dealing with the largest ocean liner in the world, you can’t sit in a helicopter asking if it can go left a bit or right a bit because it doesn’t work like that. A three ship formation like this has to be finely co-ordinated and choreographed ahead of time. It’s not like directing traffic — this is more like ship ballet.”

(photo/James Morgan)