LV= has agreed to sponsor the new Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth, which is scheduled to open in 2012.

The Bournemouth-based friendly society has signed up for five years from the museum’s opening to the end of 2016, and has also committed to support the project over the next two years as the new museum moves towards completion.

£35 million will be spent on the final conservation phase of the legendary Tudor warship’s hull and the building of this permanent, state of the art, interactive museum in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. The museum expects to attract around half a million UK and international visitors each year.

David Radford, group marketing director at LV=, said: “Our purpose is to help members and customers look after what they love in life