Remembering the Queen’s arrival at Arlesey Station on a Royal visit in 2006

As the country begins a period of mourning following the death of the Queen residents will reflect on a memorable visit Her Majesty made to the county on November 17 2006.

After arriving by train at Arlesey the first engagement for Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh was a visit to Samuel Whitbread Community College at Clifton.

Crowds lined up outside the school to welcome her and the royal couple spent more than an hour touring the facilities.

Photographer Tony Margiocchi remembers: “The Royal train stopped at Arlesey station to drop Her Majesty and Prince Philip off as they attended visits in Bedfordshire.

“Three local children presented her with posies, which she accepted, as she prepared to get into her car. Somehow there had been a leak about her arrival by train, and a small crowd gathered and cheered.”

Did you know? Some lesser known facts about the nation’s longest serving monarch:

> The Queen is the 40th monarch since William the Conqueror obtained the crown of England and is Queen of 16 of the 53 member states in the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as Head of the Commonwealth and Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

> The Queen was born at 17 Bruton St, London W1 on the 21st April, 1926, was christened on the 29th May, 1926 in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace.

> 1,333 diamonds and 169 pearls adorn the George IV State Diadem, worn by the Queen at her Coronation.

> In 1943 and 1944, the Queen won first prize at the Royal Windsor Horse Show for driving a utility vehicle harnessed to her black fell pony.

> The Queen has owned more than 30 corgis.

> Unusual live gifts given to The Queen on foreign tours include: two tortoises in the Seychelles in 1972; a seven-year-old bull elephant called “Jumbo” by the President of Cameroon in 1972; and two black beavers given after a Royal visit to Canada.