Platinum Jubilee: What's it like to meet the Queen?

The Queen is marking her 70th year on the throne

The Queen has famously perfected her small talk during her 70 years on the throne. Whether it's meeting a foreign head of state, prime minister or member of the public, all say the monarch shows a keen interest in them and is able to chat away happily.

BBC News has asked some of those who have met the UK's longest-reigning sovereign to share their memories.

'Practised my curtsey'

Sophie Bellringer was six when she presented the Queen with flowers

Six-year-old Sophie Bellringer was picked to present the Queen with flowers when she visited Scarborough's Open Air Theatre in 2010.

More than a decade later Ms Bellringer, from Malton, still remembers the occasion.

"I got picked out of a hat randomly," she said.

"I remember getting a rule book of things to do and not and I remember going to my ballet club and practising my curtsey so I got it perfect for the Queen.

Sophie recalls getting a new dress and some shoes with a small heel and feeling "very grown up".

She said the monarch asked how she was and because the flowers were in an ice cream cone, asked what her favourite ice cream flavour was.

"I remember [Prince] Phillip saying he liked nuts on his."

Sophie said she considered the Queen an inspirational woman.

"For lots of women, because she has dedicated her life since a very young age to the country.

"I always feel very lucky to have met her."

'So welcoming'

Anna Dyson and Falzul Haq attended a multi-faith event at Buckingham Palace

Anna Dyson and Falzul Haq were among a group of people of faith invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace in June 2019.

Ms Dyson, who used to run a community cafe in Harehills in Leeds, said they were told the Queen had wanted to host the event for those working in inter-faith and multi-faith communities.

"She had such grace, she was so welcoming, it really felt normal to be talking with her," Ms Dyson recalled.

Falzul Haq is the centre manager for the Bangladeshi Youth Organisation in Bradford and said it had been "an honour" to be invited and believes he was the only Bangladeshi there.

"Meeting the Queen, it was a wonderful experience for me," he said.

Mr Haq did admit to a few nerves when he arrived at the palace.

"We never expected the Queen to be there to receive us, but as we entered there she was was shaking hands with us and I was shaking."

Ms Dyson recalls she was one of those selected for a longer conversation with the monarch.

"That's when it got taken by the press and, for a day I was famous, because she revealed her favourite snack was toast.

"Because my cafe was Toast Love Coffee, she said 'Oh toast such a homely and simple but comforting food'."

She recalled looking out of a palace window and thinking of her grandmother, a Jewish refugee.

"I just thought how proud she would have been of me and how proud and lucky she would have felt to come to Britain where the Queen would have been hosting an event like that."

Mr Haq described the monarch as "very down-to-earth".

"It was a wonderful experience and I don't think I will ever forget it."

'Shaking life a leaf'

The Queen's intervention ensured a wet submariner got more rum rations

In 1969 Lou Armstrong, from Hull, was serving on the first all-British nuclear submarine, Valiant.

The Queen was visiting and Mr Armstrong recalls an officer coming up to him with a "cheesy grin and an umbrella".

"He said 'I've got a job for you, there's a big squall up top and the Queen must not get wet'."

Mr Armstrong said he and others followed the Queen as she toured the submarine carrying their umbrellas.

"It felt as if we had been in a shower with our clothes on and I was shaking like a leaf," he said.

After about an hour, the Queen offered her goodbyes to the officers onboard.

"She stared at me and said 'you look freezing would a tot of rum warm you up?'," he said.

"She turned to the Captain and said 'please see that these men get an extra tot of rum'."

Mr Armstrong said she then said "splice the mainbrace," which meant three-eighths of a pint of rum.

"That's how I met the Queen," he said.

"She was a lovely lady, very observant and God bless her."