Antony Sheriff will take over from Philippe Mellier at Princess who will remain on the board of the Princess holding company.

Antony Sheriff used to work for McLaren for a decade but he took the carmaker to court following his resignation in 2013.

Antony Sheriff joins Princess just weeks after it was announced that it would cut 350 jobs as part of a company restructure. Princess employs around 2,000 at its headquarters in Plymouth on the UK’s south coast, and said the cuts would affect the back office, development and production divisions.

Princess is launching new yacht models in 2016 despite its economic troubles.

In a statement about the management change, managing director Chris Gates said: “It was an absolute pleasure to have worked with Philippe Mellier over the past year as he was really passionate about the brand and product and I thank him for all of his efforts.

“I’m delighted to welcome Antony Sheriff to Princess as our new executive chairman. I can clearly see his experience and energy adding tremendous value to our business and I am looking forward to working alongside him to further develop Princess over the coming years.”

“Over 50 years, Princess has built a well-deserved reputation for building the finest boats in its class and I am looking forward to working with Chris and the rest of the brilliant team at Princess, to continue to build the best and most innovative products while delivering the best customer experience in the industry.