The Day I Met the Queen

To mark the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, singer and presenter Aled Jones is in his home nation of Wales to speak to people with extraordinary stories of when they met the Queen. His journey includes meeting a man who has met the Queen many times over 30 years of taking snapshots of her on royal walkabouts, a former choir girl who got close to the Queen when she sang at the investiture of the Prince of Wales, the breeder of the Queen's corgis, and a survivor of the 1966 Aberfan mining tragedy, when a school was buried by mining debris.

To mark the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond is in her home territory of south west England to speak to people with extraordinary stories of when they met the Queen. On her journey she meets veterans from the Falklands war, a navy captain who was lost for words when he welcomed the Queen on board his destroyer, the landlady who hosted the Queen on a rare visit to the pub, and an apprentice bricklayer whose life changed after she met the Queen.

To mark the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, John Craven is in his home territory of the north of England to speak to people with extraordinary stories of when they met the Queen. John's journey also takes in the midlands where he visits the people who make the Queen's handbags. In Manchester, John meets a couple who had a very welcome royal gatecrasher at their wedding, and in Bradford he spends time with a policeman and a doctor who were honoured for their endeavours during the Bradford football fire, in which 56 people lost their lives.

To mark the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, chef Ainsley Harriott is in his home city of London meeting ordinary people with extraordinary stories of when they met HM the Queen. His heartwarming and oftenmoving journey around south east England has him meeting a couple who have been married for 63 years, thanks to the Queen. Dog-lover Ainsley meets a corgi who found a new home after meeting the Queen, and he cooks up a dinner fit for a Queen as he reminisces about his job as chef for Princess Margaret, whose sister often popped round for lunch.

To mark the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, weather forecaster Carol Kirkwood is back home in Scotland tracking down ordinary people with heartwarming and often moving stories of when they met the Queen. Carol is deeply moved when she meets a bereaved parent in Dunblane who met the Queen after the appalling massacre at the school. In Edinburgh, she's entertained by two of the longest serving crew of the Royal Yacht Britannia who have tales of a very relaxed Queen on board, and she also meets one of the Queen's favourite ponies, looked after by the Pony Major General.

Aled Jones, Jennie Bond, John Craven, Carol Kirkwood and Ainsley Harriott search the country for everyday people who have met the Queen and have extraordinary stories to tell. The presenters also share their own memorable experiences of meeting Her Majesty. By pulling together these treasured once-in-a-lifetime experiences with rarely seen personal photographs and footage, the Queen is presented as never before. From the landlady of a Devonshire pub who gave the Queen a carry-out to the navy captain who found himself tongue-tied when welcoming the Queen on board his destroyer, as well as the moving story of how the Queen has supported the Welsh mining village Aberfan when its community was devastated, this programme celebrates the Queen's incredible influence on Britain and its people through the last seven decades.