The Hartlepool man who gave a rose to the Queen when he was 12 - and is still one of her biggest fans

Chris Lees was 12 when Her Majesty came to Hartlepool in 1977.

"There were huge crowds and I was standing near the war memorial, behind some Army cadets,” said Chris, who is now 57 and lives in London.

"I stood for a long time with a white rose in my hand, wrapped in tin foil. My sister pushed me through the legs of the boys and said ‘go on, give her the flowers! So I did.

"She said ‘is this for me?’ and I replied “yes”. She said ‘thank you, that is very nice’.

"I ran back to my mum and cried as I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I had managed to meet the person I most admired. The Queen was so nice to me and was so warm and thankful for the rose.”

Chris picked the peace rose from his family’s garden in Jesmond Gardens and said today: “I remember it as if it were yesterday.”

He remained a huge fan of the Queen ever since and has attended many Royal occasions including Trooping The Colour. He added: “I always stood for the National Anthem or if The Queen came on the television.”

But he has never been as close to Her Majesty as he was on that day in his home town.

He left Hartlepool in 1981 to train to be a dancer but eventually became a risk manager for a consultancy firm and now lives in London.

He was so deeply upset at the announcement of Her Majesty’s death that he ‘went to the Palace and queued to pay my respects. I laid some flowers to say thanks.”

The beautiful display of yellow and white flowers carried a message which said “Your Majesty. Thank you for being our wonderful Queen, for your service and devotion to our nation and your people.

‘May your light continue to shine on another shore.”

Chris, a former pupil of Thornhill and High Tunstall Schools, will also pay his respects at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth ll when it comes to London and said: “I did it for the Queen Mother when I queued for 4 hours and I will do it for the Queen too.”