Her wardrobe was a glorious rainbow of colours and she was at pains to put people at ease where ever she went

Always resplendent in her trademark colourful outfits and seemingly a smile for everyone, The Queen had made several visits to Kent over the past 15 years, but during her 70 years' reign she officially visited the county almost 40 times. Photographs from the more recent memorable visits show how well she could put at ease people who may been nervous at meeting her or worried about protocol.

Whether she was picking up a spade to dig a hole for a memory capsule as seen in Aylesford, or sitting neatly among rows of Corps of the Royal Engineers, looking pretty in pink and tiny in comparison, she appeared to relish every moment of her visits to the county.

And so did the crowds get a thrill from welcoming the Queen to their own special corner of Kent, including the jumping-up-and-down children of Capel-Le-Ferne Primary School near Folkestone, who waved Union Flags madly despite being hampered by their plastic ponchos to protect them from the rain.

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The Queen's much earlier visits to Kent have included the opening of the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge in 1991 and the Channel Tunnel, Folkestone, in 1994. She also visited the Turner Contemporary, Margate in 2011. In 1984, she opened the Law Courts in Maidstone before visiting Chatham Dockyard to hear about the visitor attraction proposals. She returned a decade later to see visitor centre built.

The Queen arrived to cheers and cries of "God Save The Queen!" when she made her last official visit to Kent in 2019. Her Majesty came to Aylesford where she met war veterans and their families during a visit of the Royal British Legion's Centenary Village. She had previously visited in 1972.

The Queen Visited Bromptom Barracks in Chatham in October 2016 to meet the Corps of the Royal Engineers to mark the corps 300th anniversary. During her visit, The Queen, who was the Colonel-in-Chief of the Corps of Royal Engineers, inspected the 140 troops based at the barracks in Chatham.

Looking stunning in a turquoise coat and matching dress with black velvet lining, the Queen was welcomed by the national anthem and salutes from senior officers. During a speech she told troops: "I am delighted to be able to share with you this momentous moment in the history of the corp. Since my last visit in 2007 you have been at the forefront of innovation."

Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh, officially opened The Wing, a £3.5 million visitor and education centre which tells the story of the Battle Britain through an audio-visual experience at the National Memorial to the Few in Capel-le-Ferne, Folkestone in March 2015.

They also met some of the last remaining members of ''The Few'', the pilots and aircrew fought who put paid to any plan for an enemy invasion by defeating the Luftwaffe in dogfights high above the skies of Kent and Sussex.

Earlier in the day, there had been a visit to Canterbury Cathedral where a girls' choir had performed for them.

The Queen toured Howe Barracks in Canterbury in June 2013 ahead of its closure due to spending cuts. Some 600 people are set to move out when The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland (5 Scots) moved to Edinburgh in 2014. There were reportedly tears all round as the Queen made a poignant farewell to the army.

The Queen had also visited Brompton Barracks to meet the Corps of the Royal Engineers in 2007 (below), where she met past and present members of the Corps as well as their families. Crowds of people lined the pavements outside to catch a glimpse of Her Majesty when she arrived, a picture in shell pink, in a dark Bentley surrounded by a police escort on motorbikes.

Before that she had visited the barracks in May 1987, when she opened the Royal Engineers Museum.

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