Shipping line Cunard today took delivery of its new 92,400-tonne liner Queen Elizabeth which will be officially named by the Queen on October 11.

The handover ceremony took place on board the vessel at the Fincantieri Monfalcone shipyard in Italy where the liner was built.

The Queen Elizabeth will join the other ''Queens'' in the Cunard fleet - the Queen Mary 2 (QM2) and the Queen Victoria.

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Cunard president and managing director Peter Shanks said: ''I'm certain the British will take this truly magnificent ship to their hearts, as they have all the Cunard Queens.''

The new ship will now sail for its home port of Southampton where it will dock on October 8.

After the naming ceremony by the Queen at Southampton, the liner will leave on its maiden voyage - to the Canary Islands - on October 12.

This is the third Cunard ship to be named Queen Elizabeth. The first was launched on the Clyde in Scotland in 1938 by the then Queen Elizabeth - who later became the Queen Mother - with the present Queen, then aged 12, looking on.

The Queen launched the second Queen Elizabeth, the QE2, on the Clyde in 1967 and also named the QM2 at Southampton in 2004.