Hundreds turn out as Queen stops the show in Scarborough (with video)

The monarch was given the best seat in the house when she officially opened Scarborough's open air theatre in front of 6,500-strong crowds who had gathered to welcome her and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Wearing a floral dress, with a matching turquoise coat and hat adorned with a magenta flower, the Queen watched local theatre groups perform song and dance routines as well as a specially written play about Scarborough's history.

The Royal party arrived in the North Yorkshire resort – the Queen's first visit to the town since July 1975 – yesterday morning by train before being driven to the new theatre in Northstead Manor Gardens.

The Queen met local dignitaries and was handed a posy of flowers by six-year-old Sophie Bellringer, whose father Tom is a sewage treatment engineer for event sponsors Yorkshire Water.

Speaking afterwards, Sophie said: "I was a bit nervous but she was very nice. All my friends at school are jealous.

"When I gave her the flowers, she said, 'Are those for me? How beautiful.'"

Sophie's mother Michelle said her daughter had been "bursting with excitement" at the prospect of meeting the Queen.

The theatre performance was hosted by comedy entertainer Tony Peers and featured violinist Victoria Yellop, a dance routine by young people from the Hatton School of Performing Arts and a song duet by Linda Newport and Alex Weatherhill.

The main performance was a play called Grains of Sand involving 223 performers aged from four to 72.

Performer Vee Shrimpton, 72, described the experience as "a dream come true", while Dan Hendley, who played the lead role, said: "It's an amazing opportunity to perform in front of the Queen and the people of Scarborough."

The Queen sat on a lakeside platform as she watched the acts and laughed when Mr Peers made a joke about the dancers' turquoise catsuits clashing with her outfit.

The 3.5m refit of the 6,500-seat auditorium, which had been a derelict ruin for two decades, includes a new stage, backstage changing area for the stars, and replacement seating.

Opera stars Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Jos Carreras will perform at the theatre on July 23.

The Royal party then left the open air theatre to visit the new Hares Leap farm shop before travelling to Cloughton, where they had lunch at the Blacksmith's Arms, one of the Queen's Duchy of Lancaster properties.

The Domesday Book village of Cloughton hit the headlines last September when the Duchy claimed that the historic community could only curb terminal decline by expanding, and was rebuked by advertising watchdogs.

However, the controversy appeared to have been forgotten yesterday when hundreds of people lined the pavements around Readman's blacksmiths forge and the Blacksmiths Arms Inn, many clutching bunches of flowers and Union flags.

When the Royal couple arrived, the crowd cheered and surged forward to get a close view of the Queen on the blacksmiths' forecourt as she was shown photographs of her last visit to Scarborough in 1975 by blacksmith Alan Readman.

She was also welcomed with a horse-shoeing demonstration carried out on a 16-year-old horse named Buck.

Mr Readman, who had briefly met the Queen previously, described the Royal couple as "wonderful" and said it was an honour to greet them.

He said: "You feel quite at ease. I'm not being clever but they're so easy to speak to because there's no airs and graces about it."

After their visit to the forge, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh went next door to the Blacksmiths Arms Inn.

About 40 children from Hackness Church of England primary school waved Union flags and cheered as the royal couple walked past them and into the pub, where they had a private lunch.