ROYAL Derby Hospital will officially be opened by the Queen when she visits the city next month.

Her Majesty will meet patients, nursing staff and hospital chiefs and unveil a plaque at the site.

It had already been announced that the Queen would visit the city on April 1 to perform the annual Maundy money service at Derby Cathedral.

Now it has been revealed she will also visit the hospital and have lunch at the Cathedral Quarter Hotel, in St Mary's Gate.

“It will be a fabulous day for the city and for the county as a whole.”

Those are the words of Derbyshire’s Lord Lieutenant, Willie Tucker, as he eagerly awaits the first visit to Derby by the Queen in seven years.

Mr Tucker, the Queen’s official representative in the county, added: “It is a huge occasion and something that will probably not happen again in a lot of people’s lifetimes.”

He was speaking following the release of more details of the Queen’s Derby itinerary.

As well as attending the Royal Maundy ceremony at Derby Cathedral, she will officially open the Royal Derby Hospital and dine at the prestigious Cathedral Quarter Hotel.

The hospital visit, organised by Mr Tucker, comes after NHS bosses asked Buckingham Palace if they could take on the “Royal” part of the name a year ago. Although its name has already been switched, a blessing from a member of the Royal Family is needed to make it official.

The Queen’s visit comes almost one year after the name change, which happened after most of the care services at the former Derbyshire Royal Infirmary were transferred to the site.

Julie Acred, (corr) chief executive of Derby Hospitals, will be one of those greeting the Queen.

She said: “Many of our patients told us it was important to them that we retained the hospital’s links to the Royal Family.

“We are very proud of our royal connections and are honoured that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have generously given their time to officially open the Royal Derby Hospital on our first anniversary.”

Mr Tucker said the entire day would be something the people of Derbyshire would remember for years.

He said: “The Royal Maundy ceremony will be the first time 168 people from Derbyshire will have met the Queen in one day and that, in itself, is fantastic.

“It is also fantastic for the Cathedral Quarter as a centre because they are always trying to raise their profile – and what a way to do it.

“The visit is truly once-in-a-lifetime and I hope that the public will turn out in force to welcome the Queen and give her a real good Derbyshire welcome.”

Over the next two weeks, everything from the finest silver cutlery to chair covers at the Cathedral Quarter Hotel will be polished, cleaned or updated.

A 10-strong team of skilled chefs will be sharpening their carving knives while 14 waiters make sure their best outfits are ready.

Recipes will be tried out, tables will be laid out  to the nearest millimetre, and staff will be having dress rehearsals to get ready to welcome their most important guest.

The monarch, along with the Duke of Edinburgh, will be dining at the venue when she visits the city for the Royal Maundy ceremony.

The lunch, together with Mayors from across Derbyshire, will precede the hospital visit.

Hotel owner James Blick said a fever of excitement had gripped the staff since they discovered they would be playing host to the Queen.

He said: “The honour is beyond belief. As a hotel operator you always wish to serve the best and it does not come any better than this – it is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“It is not only a great privilege and something we will remember at the hotel for many, many years, but it is also a sincere honour to serve Her Majesty.

“Since we opened in 2008, we have attracted some guests with fairly high status but this exceeds all of our expectations.

“The buzz throughout the hotel over the last few weeks has been getting even better – as time progresses and we get closer and closer to the day, it’s building all the time and everybody is very proud and excited about it.”

The Queen’s tour of Derby will start with the Royal Maundy ceremony at the city’s Cathedral.

There, the monarch will present 168 Derbyshire pensioners with symbolic purses of money in a tradition dating back 800 years.

She will then be escorted to the Cathedral Quarter Hotel, where the Mayor of Derby, Councillor Sean Marshall, will host the lunch.

It will not be the first time Mr Blick has catered for some famous names – in the 1990s he served former US President Bill Clinton and Tony Blair lunch at a summit in Birmingham.

But he said that event would be eclipsed when he greets the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at his hotel.

He said: “Serving Tony Blair and Bill Clinton was very intense but the next step up from that, the ultimate of ultimate, really has to be the Queen.

“I sometimes have to pinch myself to make sure it’s real.”

And Mr Blick said he had been going through the hotel with a fine toothcomb to make sure every corner of it is perfectly presented on the day.

He said: “We have a very high spec of stock but we have invested further in the hotel to make sure it and everything we use on the day is first-class.

“There has been and there will continue to be many hours spent in preparation for the day and building up to the moment where we welcome the Queen.”

The Derby Telegraph would like to hear from anyone who has been invited to take part in the Queen’s visit.

They can contact reporter Jonny Birkin on Derby 291111 extension 6422, or e-mail  jbir kin@derbytelegraph.co.uk.