WHEN Queen Camilla visited Worcester for Maundy Thursday it brought back dazzling memories of previous royal visits.

And specifically from Queen Elizabeth II who was always warmly welcomed by the people of the city and died in September 2022 aged 96.

It all started before she even became Queen.

Her first official visit to Worcester to tour the Royal Worcester factory and open the porcelain museum was in 1951 minus Philip and when still Princess Elizabeth.

She became Queen in February 1952 after the death of her father George VI.

And it was not until 1957 the city had its first close look at the new royal couple.

April 24 was a memorable day for more than 7,000 schoolchildren who packed Worcestershire County Cricket Club's New Road ground.

The Queen and Prince Philip were slowly driven around the outfield, standing in the back of a maroon Land Rover.

That was on the second day of a two-day official visit to the county with the overnight stop spent on the Royal train near Leigh Court.

It had arrived at Shrub Hill station the previous evening when the Royal couple were driven down Lowesmoor, St Nicholas Street, The Cross and High Street to the floodlit Guildhall for dinner with 500 guests.

The following morning they arrived at 10am at Henwick Station and drove down to the cricket ground.

While the Band of the Royal Artillery played, the Queen inspected a guard of honour before changing back to their official car for the drive to Malvern where they visited the Royal Radar Establishment and Malvern College before going into Herefordshire at British Camp.

There followed royal visits by both the Queen and Prince Philip in 1980 for the Maundy Thursday Service at Worcester Cathedral and in 1989 for the 800th anniversary of the first Royal Charter to Worcester.

The Queen and Prince Philip made a near four-hour visit to the city to pay tribute to the Queen’s Own Mercian Yeomanry and unveil a plaque to open new £350,000 workshops at the cathedral.

There followed a tour of the building before an invited audience of 1,500 and lunch was taken in the Guildhall with 200 special guests.

The Queen visited again in 2001 as part of the 250-year celebrations of Worcester Porcelain and to open the new Worcester City Police Station.

The Queen's final visit to Worcester was in 2012 as part of her Diamond Jubilee tour.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh arrived in Worcester to officially open library and history centre The Hive.