Britain's oldest surviving First World War veteran met the Queen - and jokingly tried to mask his impressive age.

Harry Allingham, from Eastbourne, joined veterans of the last Iraq war conflict and centenarians from the Great War at Buckingham Palace yesterday.

He told the Queen: "Don't say a word but I'm 107. They keep saying I'm 104 but I'm not."

Mr Allingham posed in the palace grounds with the youngest person to attend the event, 23-year-old Lance Corporal Marcus Clarke.

The Queen, wearing a peppermint green outfit, told the pair: "There's rather a big age gap between the two of you. "It's rather splendid, isn't it?"

Mr Allingham was joined by other centenarian survivors of the Great War, including 105-year-old Fred Lloyd, from Uckfield.

Mr Allingham revealed his harsh wartime experiences and said: "I haven't met the Queen before but I nearly spoke to King George.

"He stopped at the next-but-one person to me and after that he had had enough.

Mr Allingham, a former member of the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Air Force, added with a smile: "I was very disappointed."

More than 1,500 Servicemen and women who were injured serving their country, including those from the first Gulf War in 1991, were at yesterday's event.

They mingled with didgeridoo performer Rolf Harris, actor Sir John Mills, comedian Bruce Forsyth and presenter Esther Rantzen.

The Queen toured a line up of war veterans, including Mr Allingham and Mr Lloyd, who stood to attention in the Palace grounds.

Missing from the elite list of decorated centenarian veterans was Jack Davis, formerly of the sixth Battalion, Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry.

Mr Davis, who at 108 was formerly Britain's oldest surviving Serviceman from the First World War, died on Sunday at a nursing home in Stokehammond, Buckinghamshire.

The Not Forgotten Association offers entertainment and recreation for the thousands of disabled ex-soldiers, sailors and pilots injured in conflicts from 1914 to the present day.

Garden parties organised by the charity have been held at the Palace since 1920.

In April the two Sussex veterans met Prince Charles for a poignant reunion of Britain's last remaining Great War heroes.

The World War One Veterans' Association decided to reunite them at the National Archives in Kew, Surrey, for a "last curtain call."