Two elderly royals meet in Southampton today, each to celebrate the longevity of the other, and to say a last farewell.

On the 55th anniversary of Coronation Day the Queen will step on board her namesake, the last true ocean liner in the world that she launched on the Clyde in 1967 and which will make her last voyage in November to become a floating hotel in Dubai. The two are unlikely to meet again.

As well as past and present captains, officers, crew and senior Cunard management, the Queen will meet some of the Queen Elizabeth 2’s legion of adoring fans, those time-and-again passengers who regard her as a thing of beauty, grace and history compared with the floating blocks of flats that nowadays pass for cruise ships.

She may also meet the ship’s only permanent resident. When Beatrice Muller, an 87-year old American widow, lost her husband – during a QE2 cruise – she decided to make the ship her home, and for seven years she has occupied a modest, windowless cabin at a rent of £3,500 a month. It is, she says, no more expensive than a Florida retirement home.

From the Archive: Perfect launch of the new 'Queen'

The Queen launched Cunard's great new liner from John Brown's yard and gave her in ringing tones the name Queen Elizabeth II

• She may be the last of the mammoths

• QE2 sails on a tide of nostalgia

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While the Queen is visiting the bridge, adorned with photographs of her last visit in 1990, the ship will sound her sonorous baritone hooter, to be answered from across the docks by one of the new-generation Cunarders, the Queen Mary 2.

Baroness Thatcher is to be among 300 guests who will be with the Queen, as well as nine QE2 captains and the long-serving female crew member Roz Price Evans, who will present the Queen with 55 red roses to mark her coronation anniversary.

Sovereign and ship have several milestones to mark. In March the Queen became the third longest-reigning monarch in English history, surpassing Henry III’s 56 years and one month, and now exceeded only by George III and Victoria. This excludes James I, who spent 37 years as King of Scots before coming to London for a further 22.

The two Elizabeths also hold the distance record for their respective species. The Queen, crowned at the dawn of commercial jet travel, is by far the most travelled head of state in history, while at 5.5 million nautical miles – the equivalent of 13 return trips to the Moon – the QE2 has sailed farther than any other vessel since Man floated his first canoe, and has carried 2.1 million passengers on, among other voyages, 803 Atlantic crossings and 25 world cruises.

With a top speed of 32.5 knots, she remains the fastest passenger ship afloat; she can even manage 20 knots astern, which is more than many of her rivals can manage forwards. And she is the largest vessel to have navigated the Panama Canal.

She was built for £29 million – with the help of a hefty government grant – and immediately criticised by traditionalists as a brash reflection of Swinging Sixties Britain. In the intervening years Cunard has spent 15 times that on refurbishments, including £100 million to replace her fuel-thirsty steam turbines with nine German diesel engines.

Her life has not been without incident. In 1972 paratroopers were dropped on board in mid-Atlantic to investigate a bomb threat that proved to be a hoax. On another crossing she was hit by a 95ft wave, which her captain described as like having the Cliffs of Dover coming at you. She carried 5 Infantry Brigade to the Falklands. And – oh, shame – she once ran aground off Cape Cod.

She still returns a decent profit, so why pension her off? Safety regulations to be implemented in 2010 would have required another expensive refit to remove all her wood. And she cannot satisfy the current demand for balcony cabins; she has only 32 compared with the QM2’s 955.

She carries the biggest library, and one of the biggest ballrooms, afloat, but she is a tiddler compared with the new breed of cruise ship. Jo Rzymowska, of the rival cruise line Royal Caribbean, said: “Large ships mean more space for facilities such as surfing, rock-climbing walls, ice skating rinks and shopping malls. These features sell cruises.”

It’s almost as if the customers didn’t really want to leave dry land.

There is one common misconception about the QE2 – that she is named after the Queen. In fact, she is simply the second Cunarder of that name: the ship takes the Arabic 2, the Queen the Roman II.

The ship’s permanent berth will be at Palm Jumeirah, the world’s largest man-made island. Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of Dubai World, which acquired the vessel in a £50 million deal, said: “She is coming to a home where she will be cherished.”

She will be hugely missed. When tickets for her final 16-day voyage to the Gulf went on offer they sold out in 36 minutes. And Mrs Muller will have to find a new home.

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