Editing Queen Elizabeth 2 (section)

====Background====
''Queen Mary'', in 1934, and ''Queen Elizabeth'', in 1938, were both named by and for contemporary spouses of reigning monarchs: [[Mary of Teck]] and [[Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon]], respectively.<ref name="Mirror10Nov08lastvoyage"/> These two previous Cunarders both had capitalised bow names, as ''QUEEN MARY'' and ''QUEEN ELIZABETH''.

Cunard practice at the time of naming ''QE2'' was to re-use the existing name of [[Cunard Line#Former ships|its former ships]], for example, launching {{RMS|Mauretania|1938|3}} in 1938 after the previous {{RMS|Mauretania|1906|3}} was scrapped in 1935.

The original ''Queen Elizabeth'' was still in service with Cunard when ''QE2'' was launched in 1967, although she was retired and sold before ''QE2'' entered revenue service with Cunard in 1969.

The addition of a "2" in this manner was unknown at the time, but it was not unknown for Roman numerals to denote ships in service with the same name. Two non-Cunard ships were named ''Queen Mary II'': a Clyde steamer, and ''Mauretania II'', a Southampton steamer of Red Funnel, since the Cunard ships already had the names without Roman numerals.