The Queen met Service personnel and their families during a visit to Devonport Naval Base yesterday.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were in the West Country to meet families and friends of ships, submarines and units deployed in the Gulf area and support staff.

Coaches brought people from Yeovil (for RNAS Yeovilton), Culdrose (for the RN air station there) and from Royal marines and Royal Navy centres in the Plymouth area, and the families enjoyed a buffet lunch in the Junior Rates mess.

The royal visitors flew in to Roborough airfield in the early afternoon, and were driven to HMS Drake, where the Queen met a number of Royal Navy and Royal Marines families.

Members of the families of personnel from RAF St Mawgan in Cornwall were also at Devonport for the visit.

Around 400 people, mainly wives and children, gathered at the base for the visit, which was arranged shortly before the American helicopter crash which killed eight members of 3 Commando Brigade on Friday – the Brigade is based in Plymouth.

RNAS Culdrose has also suffered losses, with the collision between two Royal Navy Sea King helicopters over the weekend – the aircraft were based at Culdrose, in Cornwall.