WHEREVER you looked before the Queen arrived in the region yesterday you could see faces filled with tension and excitement.

For staff at each of the four main venues, all their preparation was to make sure that the Queen knew just what the North-East was capable of.

Smiling, the Queen stepped off the Royal Train at Newcastle Central Station - and she carried on smiling all day.

But not everyone was as happy.

Some long-suffering rail users complained that the Queen's train was on time when their trains have not arrived on time for weeks.

Mark Brown, 34, a businessman from High Heaton in Newcastle, said: "It's very nice that the Queen has such a privilege when the rest of the country is grinding to a halt."

After unveiling a plaque at the station, which is commemorating its 150th anniversary, she went to the nearby £70m International Centre for Life where she visited the Centre for Reproductive Medicine, while Prince Philip toured the Institute for Genetics.

The Queen and Prince Philip then went to the children's area of the centre, Interactive World.

Laura Parker and Amy Porter, who are both 11, and Mary Pams, ten, got to meet the Queen. They both said the Royal visitor was "really nice".

After seeing modern-day science in the North-East, the couple explored the region's past at the Bede's World museum, in Jarrow, where they opened a £4m development.

The Queen was given a delicate gold brooch made by Bishop Auckland silversmith Les Howe, 53, depicting an image on a stone frieze made by Bede's craftsmen in the 8th Century.

After a lunch prepared by catering students at South Tyneside College's training kitchens, consisting of smoked salmon and salmon terrine, with a lime and sweetpepper salsa, and Escalopes of pork served in a calvados, apple and cream sauce, the couple went on to the Sunderland Royal Hospital. There, she met staff and mothers at the new neo-natal unit.

The Queen complimented the region on its achievements over thousands of years.

She said: "This is a region whose active participation goes back to at least the Roman settlements."