Greg Guider and Katrina Telfer reflect on meeting Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in Tamworth in 1977 as Oxley High School students

"It's a memory I sort of always had," former Oxley High School captain Greg Guider told the Leader.

Mr Guider and students from primary and high schools across the city were invited to meet Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip when they flew into Tamworth for a once-in-a-lifetime visit.

The significance of the royal encounter has stayed with him through the decades.

"At the time it didn't sink in," Mr Guider said.

"It doesn't happen to everyone, just the right person in the right place."

Mr Guider, just 17 at the time, said the students gathered at Tamworth High School and were briefed on protocol before Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip arrived.

Then everything went quiet.

"You start to feel a bit nervous," he said.

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But then the royal pair started making their way along the line of students, stopping for friendly conversations and to ask questions about school and life in the bush.

"She spoke briefly with us and then Phillip came along behind her and we had a really good chat, he was good to talk to," Mr Guider said.

Even 45 years on, he remembers the electric atmosphere at Oxley High School that day and the feeling after meeting the pair.

"It was a buzz and you were on a cloud after meeting her and Philip of course," he said.

Mr Guider was sad to hear the news the 96-year-old monarch had died peacefully at her home in Balmoral in Scotland, just more than a year after her husband of 73 years Prince Philip passed away.

Queen Elizabeth II was the Commonwealth's longest reigning monarch.

"I straight away thought of how nice she was," he said.

"She will be very sadly missed."

Tamworth local Katrina Telfer was in Year 8 at Oxley High School in 1977 when she too lined up to meet the Queen.

Pictured in a photograph of the momentous occasion are two of her sisters and one of her brothers - though Ms Telfer is the one who locked eyes with Queen Elizabeth II.

"It was so special," she said.

"I've always loved the Queen."

Ms Telfer said there was an air of excitement as the royal couple began talking to the students.

"We were all standing in silence and in awe," she told the Leader.

"I remember how excited I was to speak to the Queen and I remember the conversation, it was about uniforms.

"She had such an eye for detail."

A teenage Ms Telfer penned a letter to her uncle, who was high up in the church over in England and had once had tea with Queen Elizabeth II.

Her mother had been to see the monarch during an earlier visit to Australia.

Ms Telfer said she was terribly sad to hear about Queen Elizabeth II's death.

"She has been my one and only queen and I just think what a gift of service she has given," she said.

Queen Elizabeth II honoured the Tamworth region with a visit during her silver jubilee tour to Australia in March 1977.

She officially opened the Ray Walsh House council building on Peel Street.

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