I served for 25 years and only saw Queen Elizabeth once and that was in Sunderland, when standing at the side of the road I watched her pass by in her car.
Travelling home from Egypt in a York Aircraft in 1953 we flew fairly low as these planes were not pressurised, but this allowed us to get a good look at the ground beneath us during the Flight. We flew across France and then the water and made a sharp turn to the right to head for England.
Some one ,can't remember if it was the Pilot or Steward, told us to look out at the surface of the sea as the Queen was reviewing the fleet.

True enough we flew over a huge formation of ships in position ready for the review. Later I found there were 170 or more ships in the Formation. It was a sight that not many people actually saw from the Air. So although I only saw the Queen once, I was able to tell people about this historical occasion.
The fact that we actually flew over this formation showed that Security was much less then than it is now.
John Eveleigh 42A A Coy