Following her commissioning, Royalist spent several months working up, during which time she underwent repairs for trial defects and for alterations and additions.
Amongst these were modifications for service as a carrier flagship.

In March 1944 Royalist joined the Home Fleet and served for a short period in the Arctic theatre.
In this capacity she took part in Operation Tungsten, the carrier raid against the German battleship Tirpitz whilst the Tirpitz was in Norway.

Royalist was then ordered to the Mediterranean to support the Operation Dragoon landings in the south of France in August 1944, as part of the escort carrier squadron TF88.1 under the United States Navy's Task Force 88
After Dragoon, she joined the Aegean Force preventing enemy evacuation from the islands.
On 15 September, accompanied by the  destroyer HMS Teazer, she sank the transports KT4 and KT26 off Cape Spatha.
She was then stationed in the Aegean Sea until late 1944, when she was ordered to the East Indies.

By April 1945 she was with the 21st Aircraft Carrier Squadron as flagship, supporting the Rangoon landings (Operation Dracula), and the following month was part of a force that failed to join the Battle of the Malacca Strait where five Royal Navy destroyers intercepted the Japanese cruiser Haguro and the destroyer Kamikaze evacuating troops from Port Blair in the Andaman Islands.
For the remainder of the war she covered the carrier raids against targets in the East Indies and Sumatra.

Scottish author Alistair MacLean served on Royalist during the Second World War, and used his experiences as background for his acclaimed first novel HMS Ulysses as well as for some of his subsequent works.
Following her commissioning, Royalist spent several months working up, during which time she underwent repairs for trial defects and for alterations and additions. Amongst these were modifications for service as a carrier flagship. 
In March 1944 Royalist joined the Home Fleet and served for a short period in the Arctic theatre. In this capacity she took part in Operation Tungsten, the carrier raid against the German battleship Tirpitz whilst the Tirpitz was in Norway. 
Royalist was then ordered to the Mediterranean to support the Operation Dragoon landings in the south of France in August 1944, as part of the escort carrier squadron TF88.1 under the United States Navy's Task Force 88
After Dragoon, she joined the Aegean Force preventing enemy evacuation from the islands. On 15 September, accompanied by the  destroyer HMS Teazer, she sank the transports KT4 and KT26 off Cape Spatha. She was then stationed in the Aegean Sea until late 1944, when she was ordered to the East Indies. 
By April 1945 she was with the 21st Aircraft Carrier Squadron as flagship, supporting the Rangoon landings (Operation Dracula), and the following month was part of a force that failed to join the Battle of the Malacca Strait where five Royal Navy destroyers intercepted the Japanese cruiser Haguro and the destroyer Kamikaze evacuating troops from Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. For the remainder of the war she covered the carrier raids against targets in the East Indies and Sumatra.
Scottish author Alistair MacLean served on Royalist during the Second World War, and used his experiences as background for his acclaimed first novel HMS Ulysses as well as for some of his subsequent works.
HMS Royalist (89)