QUEEN Elizabeth 2, the most famous ship in the world, faces the double ignominy of having her engines ripped out and the name of her home for 40 years obliterated once she leaves the city today.

The Daily Echo can reveal QE2 is set to undergo a series of changes, including her engines being torn out and the name, “Southampton’’, she has carried on her stern to all corners of the world is to be painted over.

This will shock thousands of people expected to line Southampton Water and the Solent to catch the last glimpse of QE2 as she says her farewell to the waters where she has been such a well-loved sight during the last four decades.

As she slips her moorings, another controversy will continue to swirl around the ship as she begins the 16-day voyage to Dubai to be converted into a floating hotel and entertainment complex.

When news of her sale for £50m was first released last year there was anger among British maritime historians that the liner had been sold complete with her treasure trove of unique collection of Cunard and marine memorabilia.

This includes a collection of oil paintings, models, tapestry, and even the grand piano from the first Queen Mary, which is one of the main features in QE2’s Chart Room lounge.

Although the Government said it would examine the sale, and despite pleas for Whitehall to intervene and save the collection, all the items remain on board.

The liner was due to dock at 7am today and prepare for the arrival of the Duke of Edinburgh who was making a nostalgic visit to the liner.

In September, 1967 Prince Philip accompanied the Queen when she named and launched QE2.

Today, on behalf of Cunard, the Duke of Edinburgh will present a specially commissioned painting “Coming Home’’ by the marine artist Robert Lloyd, to the city of Southampton.

At 11am QE2 was to be showered by a million poppy petals to acknowledge her time as a troopship during the Falkland Islands crisis of 1982 and the fact that the Cunarder is leaving on Armistice Day.

An RAF Harrier jump-jet will fly over QE2 and hover off her stern where the aircraft will drop her nose as a mark of respect for the liner.

After she moves away from her traditional berth in the city’s Eastern Docks at 7.15pm, QE2 will make her way the short distance up Southampton Water to a position off Mayflower Park where the ship will be the backdrop for a firework display.

An armada of small boats, yachts, ferries, and pleasure craft are expected to shadow QE2 as she departs from the docks and then later the flotilla will follow the liner down Southampton Water and out into the Solent.

Before the firework display QE2’s master, Captain Ian McNaught is due to deliver a message, which will be relayed by a giant screen in Mayflower Park, to the people of Southampton from the liner’s bridge.

Once the brilliance of the last fireworks has finally died away, QE2’s whistle will echo across the city as she gradually moves away to pass, the Eastern Docks where more fireworks are due to light up the night sky in a final salute to the great ship.