SHE spent just over four hours in the state that bears her name but the Queen's visit left a lasting impression on a recovering Brisbane.More than 45,000 people crowded into South Bank to welcome Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh to Queensland for maybe the last time.
Despite soaring temperatures, the crowd swelled - as many as 30-people deep in some sections - waiting for a glimpse of the Queen.
After a trip down the Brisbane River, she later comforted flood and cyclone victims and thanked volunteers who helped the state through its summer of disasters.
Ben Conway, 8, was one of the lucky ones to meet the monarch. The last time he wore his Queen's Guard's outfit, it was among his school mates at a Rochedale State School cultural day.
Yesterday, the little boy from Daisy Hill got to don the ceremonial uniform of the palace foot guards again.
But this time he got to meet the Queen.
Ben was among a handful of excited children plucked from a crowd of more than 45,000 at South Bank to meet Her Majesty.
The 85-year-old monarch and the eight-year-old Queensland boy may not have exchanged many words, but they shared smiles and a photograph instead.
Asked about whether he was nervous, Ben declared "not at all", insisting "I had fun".
It was Ben's mother, Barbara, who was more overawed by the occasion.
The family emigrated from England a decade ago to settle in southeast Queensland.
Mrs Conway, 44, said she made the outfit for Ben to wear to a cultural day where students wore costumes from another country.
Mrs Conway, Ben and his older brother David, 10, waited at South Bank from 8am, and as the crowd gathered, they feared even seeing the Queen was going to be difficult.
And while some people in the crowd suffered under the sun, Ben soldiered on with only one piece of his apparel giving him grief in the heat: "Just my hat," he said.
The 45,000-strong crowd at South Bank yesterday was the biggest to welcome Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh since the royal pair touched down in Australia last week.
The city, for its part, turned on a glorious spring day, with temperatures hitting 27C and several royal watchers subsequently treated for heat exhaustion.
It was Her Majesty's 16th visit to Australia and her first tour of Brisbane since 2002.
After landing at Brisbane Airport, the royal couple was taken to Bretts Wharf, where they boarded a boat for a trip along the Brisbane River.
The party arrived at South Bank, met with flood and cyclone victims and heroes, dignitaries and a couple of koalas, before opening a new addition to the site a stormwater harvesting plant and sharing some lunch with a lucky few.
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