Queen looks forward to 'peace and quiet' as Marham jets go on deployment
Captain Angus Essenhigh (left), Queen Elizabeth II (centre), and Commodore Steve Moorhouse, during a visit to HMS Queen Elizabeth at HM Naval Base, Portsmouth - Credit: Steve Parsons/PA Wire
The Queen said she was looking forward to some peace and quiet as warplanes from RAF Marham begin a seven-month deployment away from Norfolk.
F35 Lightning jets from the 617 "Dambusters" Squadron are on board the HMS Queen Elizabeth, which has set sail for to the Indo-Pacific region.
F35 Lightning jets from RAF Marham-based 617 "Dambusters" Squadron are among the aircraft on board the carrier - Credit: POPhot Jay Allen/Ministry of Defence/Crown Copyright/PA Wire
The monarch visited the 68,000-ton ship in Portsmouth before the vessel left to join the UK Carrier Strike Group for the 26,000-mile voyage on Saturday.
After being briefed on the deployment, she met personnel from the Navy, RAF and Royal Marines.
Strike group commander Commodore Steve Moorhouse said the Queen was looking forward to some peace and quiet, as the F35B jets based near her home in Sandringham would be away on the deployment for seven months.
Captain Angus Essenhigh (left), Queen Elizabeth II (centre), and Commodore Steve Moorhouse, during a visit to HMS Queen Elizabeth at HM Naval Base, Portsmouth - Credit: Steve Parsons/PA Wire
"It wasn't lost on her they are from Marham, just down the road from Sandringham, so she hears them regularly, so she was just relieved to see them go to sea and get a little peace over her.
"It was an absolute privilege to host her majesty on her flagship, she was really fascinated and interested in where we were going and was particularly struck not just by where the carrier was going but where the frigates and destroyers are going and the variety of the trip."
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The deployment which will take the strike group through the Mediterranean to the Red Sea then from the Gulf of Aden to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean to the Philippine Sea.
It will visit 40 countries including India, Japan, South Korea and Singapore with more than 70 engagements.
Queen Elizabeth II meeting personnel during a visit to HMS Queen Elizabeth at HM Naval Base, prtsmouth - Credit: Steve Parsons/PA
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who also visited the ship, said: "This deployment shows that we are strong on our own, but even stronger with our allies. I want to join the nation in wishing the crews across the Carrier Strike Group every success as they depart on this truly historic endeavour."
The deployment has been organised as part of the "UK's tilt to the Indo-Pacific region" in a bid to "bolster deep defence partnerships".
Queen Elizabeth II talks to military personnel during a visit to HMS Queen Elizabeth as the ship prepares to lead the UK Carrier Strike Group on a 28-week operational deployment travelling over 26,000 nautical miles from the Mediterranean to the Philippine Sea. - Credit: Steve Parsons/PA Wire
Accompanying HMS Queen Elizabeth will be a surface fleet made up of Type 45 destroyers HMS Defender and HMS Diamond, Type 23 anti-submarine frigates HMS Kent and HMS Richmond, and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's RFA Fort Victoria and RFA Tidespring, as well as the US destroyer USS The Sullivans and Dutch frigate HNLMS Evertsen.
