ISLANDERS flocked to Ryde in their thousands to see the Queen on her official visit to the Isle of Wight in 1987.

On Wednesday, May 13, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh travelled across from Portsmouth Harbour, stopping briefly to see a replica fleet of square-riggers mid-Solent, which had assembled to mark the 200th anniversary of the sailing of the first fleet to Australia.

Scroll through our gallery of pictures above to see more...

They transferred from a frigate to the royal barge, which brought them to Ryde Pier.

As the Royal visitors arrived, the famous Red Arrows jets thundered overhead, leaving red, white and blue vapour trails in a spectacular airborne set-piece, which concluded with a heart formation.

Isle of Wight County Press: The front page of the County Press following the Queen's visit to the Isle of Wight in 1987.The front page of the County Press following the Queen's visit to the Isle of Wight in 1987.

Islanders lined the road right the way up Union Street and into St Thomas's Square at the top, where the Queen and Duke went into the church to see the British-Australian heritage exhibition.

The Queen also unveiled a replica of the anchor of HMS Sirius, the ship which originally undertook the 13,000-mile trip to Australia 200 years before.

Then the royal couple spent some time walking down Union Street, chatting to Islanders.

They were then taken by car to Osborne House, where they attended a private reception in the Durbar Room to mark the bicentenary of the sailings to Australia.

The couple later boarded a special sailing of Wightlink's catamaran, Our Lady Pamela, to start their journey back to London.

  • See inside the current edition of the County Press (Friday, June 3) for your FREE eight-page jubilee supplement featuring stories and pictures from each of the Queen's five official visits to the Isle of Wight.

Want to know what's on this weekend? Click here for our jubilee events guide

DID YOU KNOW? We have also produced a 116-page commemorative magazine, The Queen's Platinum Jubilee: Hampshire & the Isle of Wight celebrates 70 years, which is available in selected Island newsagents, or by clicking here to order online

HAVING A JUBILEE EVENT? We are hoping to feature as many events as possible in next week's County Press! See: countypress.co.uk/jubilee or click on the submissions box below to send pictures and details to us!