The monarch joined other dignitaries for a ceremony that twinned the Canadian Tulip festival with the Spalding Flower Parade in Linconshire, Britian's largest tulip festival.

The ageless monarch even posed graciously with another stately figure from across the pond -- the 2001 South Holland Flower Queen from Spalding.

"It's been excellent here. Everyone here is so friendly, it's a wonderful city," gushed Claire Collins 20, who doesn't dress in a strapless blue grown and tiara for her day in a solitictor's office.