Hundreds of well-wishers greeted the Queen in Dulwich

Stolen most recently in the 1980s, the painting's various escapades have seen it been recovered from West Germany, returned anonymously, found on the back of a bicycle, and discovered under a bench in a graveyard in nearby Streatham.

The gallery's art collection, which includes works by Poussin and Rubens, was originally intended for the King of Poland, Stanislaus Augustus.

He commissioned London art dealers to buy the paintings, but the collection was only completed after his forced abdication and the works stayed in Britain.

Among the crowds of well-wishers and schoolchildren who turned out to see the Queen, around 100 youngsters brought their own portraits to show her.

They featured a four-year-old Queen Victoria wearing a black hat, copied from the famous painting by SP Denning who painted the Queen's great, great grandmother.