THE Queen visited North Yorkshire to present the Elizabeth Cross to the relatives of six soldiers killed on active service.

It is the first time she has personally presented the new honour which bears her name.

The relatives received the honour during a private presentation ceremony at Catterick Garrison.

The cross is awarded to the next of kin of armed forces personnel killed on active service, or as a result of terrorism, in a mark of national recognition of their loss.

It is the first time a reigning monarch has given their name to a new award since King George VI instituted the George Cross in 1940.

The soldiers, from the Queen's Royal Lancers, were killed while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Queen is the Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment, which is famous for its "Death or Glory" motto.

Trooper Robert Pearson, 22, from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, was killed by a mine in Afghanistan's Helmand Province.

His body was flown home in April last year by a military aircrew that included Prince William who had made a secret flying visit to Afghanistan to meet frontline troops.

The Prince said at the time he was honoured to be among those repatriating the soldier's remains and later spent time with the serviceman's family.

Close family members of five other soldiers from the Lancers, who died while on operations in Iraq, will also be awarded the Cross.

They are: Sergeant Wayne Rees, 36, from Nottingham, who was serving with the 19 Light Brigade in January 2007 when he was killed in a road traffic accident.

The serviceman was in command of a Scimitar fighting vehicle which left the road in rural Maysan Province, southern Iraq, while on a dawn patrol.

In April that year Corporal Ben Leaning, 24, from Scunthorpe, and Trooper Kristen Turton, 27, from Grimsby, were killed when their Scimitar was hit by a roadside bomb while they were on patrol in Maysan.

Corporal Stephen John Allbutt, 35, from Stoke-on-Trent, and Trooper David Clarke, 19, from Littleworth in Staffordshire, were killed in March 2003 during the first week of the Iraq war in a friendly fire incident when their Challenger 2 tank was hit by another tank.

The Cross is also available to the families of those who died in conflicts dating back to 1948.

The first recipient was Karen Upton, the widow of Warrant Officer Class 2 Sean Upton, 35, who was killed in an explosion while on a foot patrol in Afghanistan.

The Queen was visiting Catterick in her capacity as Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment which is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year.

Earlier today the Queen inspected the Lance Guard in front of hundreds of families in brilliant autumn sunshine.

Relatives packed a parade ground at the Army base as the Queen inspected the front row of the guard before taking her place for a formal regimental photograph.

Dressed in a pale blue, cream and flecked dress and coat and pale blue hat, the Queen was greeted by Senior Regimental Officers before signing the visitors' book.

Later she chatted to former and current members of the regiment in the Officers Mess before meeting the relatives of the six soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Queen spent around 15 minutes presenting the honours to relatives of the six soldiers.

The meeting was described as "emotional" by a royal aide, who said the families were grateful for the Queen's presence.

Later she was due to take her seat to watch a brief display of the Mounted Re-enactment Troop.