9 May 2002: The Queen honours British sporting achievement during a visit to Buckinghamshire and Berkshire

The Queen met Sir Steven Redgrave, Britain's greatest Olympian, and wished England's football squad good luck for the World Cup during a busy day of engagements in the South East of England.

Cheering crowds in Marlow, an historic town on the river Thames, greeted The Queen as she arrived to unveil a statue of the town's most famous son, Olympic hero Sir Steven Redgrave. Watched by Sir Steven, his parents, wife, children and rowing crew, The Queen pulled the cord to unveil the nine-and-a-half-foot high bronze sculpture in Marlow's Higginson Park. Sir Steven, a former Great Marlow School pupil and diabetic, became the UK's greatest-ever rower when he won his fifth consecutive Olympic gold in Sydney in the year 2000.

The £100,000 bronze statue took 20 months to create. Sir Steven commented: "The statue seems to be a good likeness. I would have liked to see it with a few less pounds around the middle but it is very good to be honoured like that in my home town and close to the river where I started rowing." He added: "It is a very great occasion to have the Queen come to my home town and having the statue unveiled by her was very, very special".

The Queen and Prince Philip also attended a garden party in Higginson Park, to which more than 400 people had been invited. They met representatives of organisations working in support of the elderly and disabled in Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.
 
After celebrating British rowing achievements, The Queen and Prince Philip travelled by boat upriver to Bisham Abbey Sports Centre, Berkshire. The Environment Agency launch MV Windrush was used for the occasion, escorted by The Queen's boatmen.
 
Now one of the UK's National Sports Centres, the 800-year-old Abbey played host to Henry VIII and the exiled Elizabeth I, who governed for a while from the suite known as the Elizabethan Room. Today it is the training centre for England's football and hockey teams, the home of the Lawn Tennis Association, British Amateur Weight Lifting Association, British Judo Association and the English Hockey Association.
  
At Bisham Abbey, representatives of England's World Cup football squad had gathered. The Queen wished England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson and his team good luck in the forthcoming World Cup competition in Japan and Korea. Her Majesty met the England boss and two of his stars, Sol Campbell and Owen Hargreaves. The Queen and Prince Philip also met young sportsmen and women from Buckinghamshire and Berkshire, representing the sports of snowboarding, karate, dragon boat racing and trampolining.
 
The day had begun in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, where The Queen arrived by helicopter. In the market square, The Queen met representatives from Aylesbury Vale District Council, Buckinghamshire County Council and the Lord Lieutenancy of Buckinghamshire.

Walking through the Square, The Queen stopped to receive flowers and exchange words with the local people who had turned out in crowds. The Queen's visit was timed to coincide with the opening of the Greenfingers Fair, part of the Aylesbury Vale in Bloom festival. The Queen had time to view some of the stalls, before unveiling a commemorative stone to mark the occasion.
 
The Queen departed by car, travelling through the Chilterns to Hughenden Manor. There The Queen was joined by The Duke of Edinburgh, who had arrived by helicopter following a morning engagement in Brighton.

Owned by the National Trust, Hughenden Manor was the home of British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli from 1848 until his death in 1881. Most of his furniture, books and pictures remain in his private retreat. After a walkabout to meet some of the crowds gathered outside, The Queen and Prince Philip had lunch in the historical setting of Disraeli's dining room. Disraeli was a long-serving prime minister to the great-great-grandmother of both The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh - Queen Victoria.

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