Hundreds turned out to welcome the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh to Moray on Thursday – the 67th wedding anniversary of the royal couple.
Around 600 people were there to greet the royal train when it pulled in at Elgin station to start a day of excitement in particular for local schoolchildren who lined the streets at Elgin, Lossiemouth and Kinloss through the course of the day.
The royal party were welcome in Elgin by the Lord Lieutenant of Moray, Grenville Johnston, before moving on to RAF Lossiemouth where they unveiled a plaque marking the highly important Quick Reaction Alert role now being undertaken by the Typhoon force at the base.
The Lord Lieutenant said: “I’m particularly pleased that they went to RAF Lossiemouth and have seen the Typhoons that have now moved in to us and are now part of our community.
“When I think back to all the excitement of the past few years it is good to say that here we are, we’re there.”
As well as unveiling the plaque at Lossiemouth the Queen met with service personnel and their families for what was the first royal visit to the base since 2003.
At RAF Lossiemouth she was presented with a posy of flowers by eight-year-old local schoolboy Lennon Gallagher, who said he was not in the slightest nervous about his royal duty.
He said: “I got the day off school to give the Queen flowers and she said thank you, they are beautiful!”
At the base Wing Commander Mike Sutton said of the visit: “Today is an enormous day for RAF Lossiemouth and we are delighted to be hosting Her Majesty.”
Before they royal party moved on to Kinloss Barracks they slowed to wave to hundreds of local schoolchildren and parents who were lining the route waving union flags.
At Kinloss they were greeted by the CO of 39 (Air Support) Engineers Regiment, Lt Col Tom Marsden, before meeting with families who moved to the base last year from Cambridgeshire.
Lt Col Marsden said: “The regiment is very grateful to Her Majesty the Queen taking time out of her busy schedule to visit the Regimental family at their relatively new home at Kinloss.
“We are also pleased that the Duke of Edinburgh, who has a long association with the barracks and the region, was able to accompany Her Majesty.”
More images from the visit are available on the insideMoray Facebook page.