Derby Day yesterday welcomed a regular face as Queen Elizabeth II arrived to watch the classic race and start her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

She comes here because she loves it at the races

The event is one of the highlights of the racing calendar and is rarely missed by the Queen who joined 130,000 enthusiastic racegoers for the great social occasion.

They gave the monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh a huge cheer as they were driven down the course past the stands and hospitality tents.

The royal couple were joined by a large party which included the Duke of York and his daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie and the monarch’s racing manager John Warren. Unlike in last year’s race, the Queen does not have a horse entered in the Derby, or the other six featured races.

The Earl and Countess and Wessex also joined the monarch in her royal box along with the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

Anthony Cane, Epsom Downs Racecourse chairman, said: “At the end of the day, her love is to come here. You have to remember, she comes here in a normal year in a private capacity, not on an official visit. But she comes because she loves it, and this time it’s her one trip to Surrey in the Diamond Jubilee.”

Grey skies threatened rain but the Queen was dressed in a white silk dress with a blue floral print, and a royal blue crepe wool coat by Stewart Parvin and matching hat by Rachel Trevor Morgan.

A spectacular parachute fall by the Red Devils, the British Army display team, was staged just before the Queen arrived, and left the crowd gasping. The men from the Parachute Regiment made pin-point landings close to the finishing line and one soldier even carried a huge Union flag.

Ashleigh Butler and her dog Pudsey, winners of this year’s Britain’s Got Talent, also entertained the crowds, performing tricks while the public waited.