ROYALTY, film stars, ex-newscasters and ladettes. They've all berthed in Southampton to name various cruise liners.

Now port owner ABP has enlisted the services of a humble mother of three to officially reopen its £2m Queen Elizabeth II Terminal - one-time teenage hairdresser Pauline Prescott.

She is better known as the devoted wife of the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who has a strong affinity with the cruise liner world.

Southampton is currently the cruise capital of the UK, and is to handle more than 480,000 passengers from 214 vessel calls this year, generating tens of millions of pounds for the local economy.

The QEII Terminal has undergone an extensive revamp in readiness for the extra 50 per cent passenger capacity needed when the Queen Mary 2 - Cunard's £550m flagship - starts her regular sailings from the port next year.

Mrs Prescott, 64, met John, then a steward on a number of Cunard liners, in 1957 before tying the knot with him in November 1961.

She made headlines herself when she was reunited with the son she gave up for adoption more than 40 years ago - Paul Watton, 47, now a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Military Police.

Mrs Prescott, pictured above, will reopen the terminal at Eastern Docks and unveil a commemorative plaque on Friday, October 3.

With her will be ABP port director Andrew Kent, ABP's group chief executive, Bo Lerenius, and Peter Shanks, senior European vice-president Peter Shanks.

Asked why Mrs Prescott was chosen to do the honours, an ABP spokesman explained: "There is a link there. John Prescott was a steward with the Cunard line."

Personalities galore have headed to Southampton this year for various ship-naming ceremonies.

They were TV presenter and so-called ladette Ulrika Johnsson, one-time BBC1 newscaster Angela Rippon, the Princess Royal - and her daughter Zara - and famous actress Dame Julie Andrews.

It is still not known yet whether the Queen will name the Queen Mary 2 in January following the ocean liner's arrival here on December 19.

Southampton is the home port for Cunard's entire fleet until 2009.

Mr Prescott was once a leading maritime union activist, pressing for better working conditions for Merchant Navy sailors and an end to cheap foreign labour.