Queen Elizabeth II kept 1949 promise to revisit Channel Islands

The Queen was greeted by locals on the island of Sark, on the first day of a two-day visit to the Channel Islands in 2001

On her first visit to the Channel Islands in 1949, the then Princess Elizabeth promised to revisit "in the years ahead".

She kept her promise, returning to the islands five more times over the decades.

Her first visit had been an important post-war visit which took place before her coronation and the last marked the 60th anniversary of Liberation Day.

On each trip, the Queen was greeted by crowds.

British Pathe footage shows the welcome that awaited Princess Elizabeth as she arrived in Alderney in 1949 on the battleship HMS Anson with her husband the Duke of Edinburgh.

During a visit to Elizabeth College in Guernsey in 1957, the Queen waved in response to the cheers from pupils

Taking place just four years after liberation, the visit was significant and the island's entire population was said to be there to welcome the couple.

In a speech on the island, she said: "Your lot, like that of the other Channel Islands, has been very hard throughout the war and I cannot exaggerate the sympathy which we, who were spared the horrors of occupation, felt for our loyal fellow subjects in the oldest dominions of the Crown."

She added: "The memory of our visit today will long remain a vivid one and we shall carry away with us the impressions of loyalty and affection which will warm our hearts and make us look forward gladly to revisiting your shores in the years ahead."

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Leaving Alderney, the couple travelled to Jersey by battleship and then by torpedo boat to Sark.

Afterwards they went to Guernsey where they had tea and made presentations on the lawn at Saumarez Park before Princess Elizabeth officially opened the Princess Elizabeth Hospital with a silver key.

The Queen was presented with a five-year-old Jersey cow at the showground of the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society during a three-day visit to the Channel Islands in 1957

In 1957, the royal couple returned, this time as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, arriving on the Royal Yacht Britannia.

They took in the sights of all four of the largest islands - it was the first ever visit to Sark by a reigning monarch.

It would be 21 years before the Queen visited the Channel Islands for a third time in 1978, once again arriving on the royal yacht, this time to a 21-gun salute in St Peter Port Harbour.

The Queen was greeted by crowds during a walkabout in Cambridge Park, Guernsey, in 1978

Eleven years later the Queen, accompanied by Prince Philip, returned.

The skies roared with a royal welcome from Guernsey's 201 Squadron and in a speech the Queen recalled her earlier visits.

"At the time of my first visit in 1949, the island was still recovering from the dark days of the occupation now 40 years later prosperity has returned and the future is bright," she said.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh travelled in an open carriage when they arrived in Sark in 1978

The new millennium brought two visits in relatively quick succession.

In 2001, having swapped the Royal Yacht for a helicopter, the Queen opened the 201 Squadron Museum at Castle Cornet, St Peter Port.

The island's affiliation with the squadron - the last remaining of the links created to encourage support and recruitment for the RAF - dates back to 1939. Although it ended when the unit was disbanded in 2011, the link was re-established when the squadron reformed last year.

Accompanied by Prince Philip, the Queen also went to Alderney and Sark before returning to Guernsey where she unveiled a plaque on the Millennium Stone.

The following day they travelled to Jersey and attended a sitting of the States Assembly and the Royal Court in Howard Davis Park before the Queen officially opened Jersey College for Girls and the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society premises in Trinity.

The Queen and Prince Philip on their final visit together to the Channel Islands in May 2005 to mark 60 years since the liberation of the islands from German Occupation

In 2005, at the age of 79, the Queen made her final visit to the Channel Islands to mark 60 years of liberation.

In a speech, the Queen said: "None of us young or old should allow ourselves to forget the sacrifices and the sufferings of those long years but I think all of us can be heartened by the efforts which have been made in recent times to promote reconciliation, tolerance and forgiveness."