 The agreed price was £25,427,000 with provision for escalation of labour and materials increases, with an agreed delivery date of May 1968.To assist with its construction the British government provided financial assistance to Cunard in the form of a £17.6 million loan at 4.5% interest.The keel was laid down on 5 July 1965, as hull number 736 on the same slipway where previous Cunard liners such as , , "Queen Mary", and "Queen Elizabeth" had been constructed.