THE Royal family has been visiting Dorset for centuries.

And ahead of the Queen’s visit to Poundbury on Thursday we look back at the occasions she has visited our county.

You can see all the pictures here

George III made the resort of Weymouth popular with fashionable holiday-makers in the late 1700s when he started taking his holidays in the seaside town.

The royal attraction hasn't waned over the years and over the Queen's 60-year reign she has visited Dorset several times.

The Queen first visited Weymouth and Portland in 1939 when she arrived on the royal train with her parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

On Tuesday, June 20, 1949, the then Princess Elizabeth and her husband the Duke arrived by train from Waterloo station to Weymouth station.

The platform had been specially prepared with 100 feet of carpeting flanked by flowers and plants.

The Lord Lieutenant of Dorset met the royal couple and thousands of people lined the roadsides as they were driven through the town to Portland Dockyard on 'a flaming June day'.

the Royal pair passed through on their way to the Channel Islands.

The Queen returned in April 1959 and surprised the crowds by bringing Prince Charles, aged 10, to visit the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle.

On Thursday, June 25, 1981, the royal couple stepped from 'the punctual-to-the-minute royal train on to a flower and flag-bedecked platform'. An Echo report at the time said: “A cheer from hundreds of well-wishers rocked the Brunel architecture to its foundations.”

On this occasion the Queen and the Duke were visiting the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Fort Austin at Portland.

They were met at the station by the Lord Lieutenant of Dorset Col Sir Joseph Weld.

The following day the royal couple visited the Navy's newest supply ship, the Fort Austin, on Portland.

Pam Rowe of Easton had a surprise when her two sons, Delwyn, nine, and Gary, seven, lost their nerve in presenting the Queen a rose and the honour was passed to her instead.

People in Wimborne waited for hours to catch a glimpse of the young Princess Elizabeth in 1948.

She was on her way to Lulworth to inspect the 16th/5th Lancers, and her trip took her through Lytchett Minster and Holme Bridge, where children laughed as a gust of wind blew away her hat.

In summer 1949, the princess was in the New Forest to open Avon Tyrrell as the holiday centre for the National Association of Girls Clubs and Mixed Clubs - the village's first ever Royal visit.

Elizabeth returned to Dorset as Queen in July 1952, on a tour which took her to Shaftesbury, Poundbury, Maiden Castle and Gillingham - where she spoke to brush makers at a factory. “Whenever I am interested in something, someone always comes to tell me it is time to go,” she confided.

1966, the Queen visited Bournemouth Gardens, Christchurch and Lymington and in 1969, she was in Poole to open its new hospital.

The royal party then travelled through Wimborne and Wareham to Winfrith.

A decade later, in 1979, the Queen and Prince Philip arrived in Poole to be presented with specially commissioned pieces of Poole Pottery.They visited the Quay and officially opened the new Poole Arts Centre.

The tour ended at Bournemouth Police Station in Madeira Road, where they saw the control centre.

1984, the Queen and the Duke visited the Royal Marines at Hamworthy, before looking over the village of Lulworth Cove and meeting holidaymakers.

In 1991, they were at Crichel House in Wimborne and Port Regis School in Shaftesbury, and in 1995 the queen awarded Poole's Ryvita factory the Royal Warrant.

The Queen, who is colonel-in-chief of the Royal Tank Regiment, was in Bovington in 1991 and 1997 to watch soldiers in training. Her grandsons William and Harry would train there years later.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were at Port Regis School to see Peter and Zara Phillips, their two oldest grandchildren, in sports displays, and to open a new gymnasium in 1997.

Another major visit to Dorset took place in May 1998. The Queen arrived at Poole station, to be greeted by civic dignitaries and children from Longespee Special School in Canford Heath.

She went on to Queen Elizabeth's School in Wimborne, where 100 well-wishers gathered outside and all 1,300 pupils had a chance to see the monarch.

The visit ended in Sherborne, where the Queen took part in the dedication of the abbey's new Great West Window.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived by helicopter at Kings Park in 2004, where the reception party included Cherries captain Steve Fletcher.

The royal couple were greeted by a crowd of 5,000 at Bournemouth seafront and the Queen was presented with a giant stick of rock by three-year-old Jasmine Shaw.

Her Majesty then headed off to visit Poole's Lighthouse once more and tour the new RNLI training college. Thousands lined Poole Quay as the royals left on a lifeboat.

In 2009, the Queen and the Duke were at Bovington again before inspecting Olympic preparations at Weymouth.

LK of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee reminded Peter Fry of the time when Her Majesty came to Dorset in 1969.

As part of her journey, she visited the Atomic Energy Authority site at Winfrith with the then Minister for Technology, Tony Benn.

At that time, Peter's father Donald was director at the site and was present when the Queen and Tony Benn met the AEA Chairman Dr - later Sir - John Hill.