Brand

Princess

Princess Yachts is a British builder of motor yachts based in Plymouth, Devon. It began in 1965 when former Royal Navy officer David King and two friends, Cliff Viney and Brian Phillips, founded Marine Projects in a rented shed on Newport Street, Plymouth. Their first boat, the Project 31, was fitted out on a Senior 31 hull and sold, together with two more, before the first was finished, at GBP 3,400 each; around 150 were delivered by 1969. The first model to carry the Princess name, the Princess 32, is dated to 1969 by Motor Boat & Yachting, while Megayacht News puts adoption of the Princess name in 1970. King remained with the company for the rest of his life and died on 10 August 2026, aged 84. Growth came through larger motor yachts and exports. The Princess 37, the yard's first flybridge model, followed in the mid-1970s, and in 1976 work began with naval architect Bernard Olesinski on the Princess 30DS. Olesinski's deep-vee hulls have underpinned Princess designs ever since, and his studio remains the naval architect on current models. The Princess 45 of 1982 was described as the largest production powerboat then built in the UK, and the company received the Queen's Award for Export Achievement in 1988. Today around 90% of its yachts are exported; sources give the reach as more than 100 or as 119 countries. Ownership has changed several times. South African businessman Graham J. Beck bought the company in 1981 and was majority shareholder for 27 years. In June 2008 he sold a 75% stake to L Capital, an investment group co-sponsored by LVMH and Groupe Arnault; that backing, which became L Catterton after a 2016 merger, let Princess build beyond 100 feet for the first time. The first superyacht, the Princess 25M, is dated to 2001. L Catterton put the business up for sale in 2022, and in February 2023 US private equity firm KPS Capital Partners agreed to acquire a controlling interest, with existing shareholders keeping a stake. No later ownership change was found as of September 2026. Princess has also worked with outside designers. The R35, shown at the 2018 Cannes Yachting Festival, was styled by Pininfarina with BAR Technologies (Ben Ainslie Racing), with Olesinski involved; it was billed as a fully carbon production sports yacht with foils. Pininfarina and Olesinski were also named on the X95, the first model of the X Class. The recent years have been uneven. About 250 jobs were cut in December 2024 and around 40 more salaried roles were put at risk in November 2025. Revenue rose to GBP 378 million in 2024, with a GBP 4.9 million pre-tax profit after a GBP 23 million loss in 2023, and under chief executive Will Green the company reported its turnaround complete in 2026. The range now spans the X Class, Y Class flybridge yachts, F Class flybridges, V Class sports yachts, S Class sports bridges and R Class, plus a new C Class of outboard-powered, stepped-hull centre consoles starting with the C48. Earlier superyachts reached the 40M tri-deck; Princess has announced the Odyssey 108 to return above 30 metres. New models include the S65 and S80 (2024), F58 and V65 (2025), and X90 (Cannes 2026), with the F54 due in 2027. Production runs across several Plymouth sites, including Devonport, Plympton and Lee Mill, with about 3,200 employees reported.