Royal Marines Experience launches fundraising push ahead of summer opening

The National Museum of the Royal Navy has launched a fundraising campaign to raise the final £2.5m needed ahead of the opening of the Royal Marines Experience at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard this summer.

The Royal Marines Museum, which is part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, closed its previous home at Eastney Barracks in 2017 due to the irreversible deterioration of the site, with plans to eventually move the collection to the dockyard and create a new marines focussed offer.

In the intervening years, two million objects from the Royal Marines collection were stored in a specialist collections centre.

Housed in a 1840’s Grade II* listed Boathouse 6 in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the new Royal Marines Experience will offer an immersive exploration of the nation’s amphibious force over 360 year, told through the voices of those who served.

The £15m project has been supported by a £4.4m grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund alongside funding from the Garfield Weston Foundation, National Museum of the Royal Navy reserves and private donations.

Funds raised from hereon in will go directly towards exhibition design and the hands-on interactives and experiences, as well as the running and upkeep of a free-to-enter Remembrance Room, where families can reflect on and remember those who gave their lives in service to their country.

Donations can be made on the museum’s website.

Matthew Sheldon, the chief executive officer of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, said: “Most of us will never know what it feels like to earn and wear the green beret of the Royal Marines Commandos.

"So, we want our new Royal Marines Experience to bring visitors closer to the tests of their training and the reality of their deployment, using real voices and remarkable objects.

“However, of course the Royal Marines' history stretches back across 360 years of service, so we have created a new national home that connects this long tradition to the professionalism, courage and pride of today's commandos. We want every visitor to leave with a deeper understanding of history, but also and especially of the challenges faced by these men and women on behalf of the nation, in a period of such change.”

In a statement supporting the final push for fundraising, former Royal Marines have signed the following letter:

“We write as former Commandants General Royal Marines, bound by a lifetime of service and an unshakeable belief in the Corps and the Marines we had the privilege to lead.

“For over 360 years, Royal Marines have stood at the point of greatest danger – on hostile shores, in unforgiving environments, and often far from public view. We have done so with courage, discipline and a quiet professionalism that rarely seeks recognition. Yet recognition matters. Not for vanity, but for truth. A nation must understand what is done in its name, and at what cost.

“Too often, the story of the Royal Marines has been carried only in memory: in messes, in families, and among those who served. But memory fades, and stories untold are stories lost. That is why the Royal Marines Experience is so important. It will ensure that the reality of service – the hardship, the humour, the fear, the resilience, and the extraordinary acts of bravery – are preserved and shared with the nation we serve.

“Equally vital is the creation of a dedicated place of Remembrance. For those who have lost comrades, brothers, sons and daughters, remembrance is not abstract, it is deeply personal. There must be a place where names are not just recorded, but honoured; where sacrifice is not just acknowledged but felt. A place where families can come, reflect, and know that their loss is recognised by the country for which that sacrifice was made.

“The Royal Marines Experience will be more than a museum. It will be a living testament. Through the voices of those who served, it will tell the individual stories that bring history to life – stories of gallantry under fire, of leadership in extremis, of endurance against the odds.

“These stories matter because they carry the values of the Corps: courage, determination, unselfishness and cheerfulness in adversity. They remind us not only of what Royal Marines have done, but of what we, as a nation, ask of them.

“This final £2.5m is not simply a fundraising target. It is a statement of intent. A statement that we will not allow the service and sacrifice of generations of Royal Marines to fade into obscurity. A statement that we will provide a permanent home for their stories, their achievements, and their memory.

“We ask you to help us complete this task because if we do not tell these stories, if we do not create this place of remembrance, then we fail not only those who served, but those who will follow.

“The Royal Marines have always done their duty. Now we ask the nation to do the same.”