The Royal Navy's new £3 billion aircraft carrier will be named after the Prince of Wales.

Prince Charles

Prince Charles

The 68-year-old royal and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall will attend the formal opening ceremony of the new vessel at Rosyth Dockyard in Fife on Friday (08.09.17), where they will witness a bottle of whisky thrown against the 65,000-tonne carrier, which will proudly be named HMS Prince of Wales.

It's the second only aircraft carrier in the UK Navy's fleet after HMS Queen Elizabeth, which is expected to set sail from Rosyth this summer, with the Princes of Wales due to hit waters by 2019.

The engineers working on the ship told the Daily Express that it will be "more efficient" than its sister ship.

When its launched into the sea the current Senior Naval Officer Ian Groom will have handed over the reigns to Captain Stephen Moorhouse.

The 44-year-old officer can't wait for the carrier to be completed and is already looking forward to sailing it.

He said: "Seeing our sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth make her debut in Portsmouth last month was an amazing sight and I look forward to one day bringing HMS Prince of Wales home to the same warm welcome.

"Until then the ship's company in Rosyth will continue to grow and they have much to be proud of in all the work they have done so far, working with our civilian industry partners to bring this ship to life."