Chilean leader bolsters links with UK

A pale lump of rock from the pit floor where the 33 miners were trapped

underground for 69 days and a paper copy of the first message they sent up to rescuers on the surface were among the gifts Mr Piera presented to the monarch on his arrival in England with his wife, Cecilia Morel.

Mr Piera told the Queen that the palm-sized stone was brought up by the second worker to be released last week from the underground disaster site.

He had brought similar gifts for David Cameron, whom he met at Downing Street earlier in the day. In return, the Prime Minister handed over a bottle of London Pride ale for each rescued miner, and an early edition of Robinson Crusoe, which was based on a real-life castaway on a Chilean island.

Posing for photographs outside Number 10, the Chilean president said relations between the two nations were now "stronger than ever".

He said the two leaders had talked about the events last week at the San Jose mine.

"I told him it was a miracle," Mr Piera said. "Down the mine, but also up on the surface, the miners are not the same... And the Chilean people are not the same. I am sure Chile now is a more united country, a stronger country."