Queen Elizabeth II: When Her Majesty opened Forth Valley Royal Hospital

The event continued a long tradition of official hospital openings in Forth Valley by members of the Royal Family – Falkirk & District Royal Infirmary had been opened by HRH Prince George, subsequently Duke of Kent, in 1932.

Accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen visited the oncology department where she met patients receiving chemotherapy, and then moved to the therapy department where she saw patients exercising in the gym as part of their cardiac rehabilitation.

The Duke was invited to watch the state-of-the-art “robots” working within their own exclusive network of corridors to deliver supplies such as meals and laundry to individual wards, before the Queen then unveiled a plaque and signed the visitors’ book to mark the official opening.

Recalling the day, Ian Mullen, former chair of the hospital, said it was an "enormous pleasure" to give the Queen a tour of the hospital.

He added: “We walked into a (rehabilitation) area where there were lots of patients. Lots had had heart attacks and so were on exercise bikes, or walking and running on treadmills - it was just a mass of movement and action.

“Her Majesty stopped short as we walked in. She looked at the huge amount of efforts and activity, turned to me and said: ‘Is there any method in this madness?’

"She said it straight-faced, that kind of throws you a little. But then she just broke out into a lovely smile and all of us just really collapsed in laughter. It was so unexpected. There’s always an element of tension in these situations and she just put everyone at their ease.

"She was absolutely lovely and incredibly knowledgeable."

Shortly before the Royal couple left, there was an unexpected break in protocol when three-year-old Hayley Boyle, granddaughter of Lord Lieutenant Marjory McLachlan, rushed forward and threw here arms around "granny’s friend”, the Queen.

Although the Lord Lieutenant quickly removed her granddaughter, the story has gone into family folklore and was repeated at the memorial service which took place for Mrs McLachlan earlier this summer.