The Gloriana has been damaged after it crashed into Kew Bridge yesterday evening, June 13.

The drama happened when two engines on the £1m barge failed while it was on the river at Strand on the Green in the early evening, travelling from London to Richmond.

A Chiswick RNLI lifeboat was called to Kew at about 7pm after they were told the vessel, which headed the Queen's Jubilee Pageant along the river last year, was trapped under the stone arch of Kew road bridge. 

The boat was travelling under its own power when both engines and then the incoming tide carried it upstream where it became wedged under the central span of the bridge.

The Gloriana had a wooden crown on its stern knocked off into the water and suffered damage to gilded wooden carvings along its side after the lifeboat crashed into it during the rescue.

The damage has been described as “superficial” by the RNLI.

The Gloriana was freed by a gust of wind and the lifeboat failed to get between the casualty and the arch in time to stop it from getting jammed again.

The RNLI lifeboat then crashed into the barge on the port side, causing some damage and the aerial of the lifeboat to break.

The crew pulled the boat through the bridge to the upstream side before they took it to safety by Kew Pier.

A statement on the RNLI website read: “It was important that the recovery was carried out quickly as the tide was still rising and Gloriana would have become even more firmly wedged under the bridge causing further damage to its superstructure.”