THE Queen is to tour North Wiltshire in March with the Duke of Edinburgh, and will visit Chippenham, Calne and Malmesbury.

The news has been greeted with special jubilation in Chippenham as it will be the town's first royal visitor for 57 years.

Chippenham Mayor Sandie Webb was overjoyed. She said: "It's absolutely fantastic. I can't believe it. It was beyond my wildest dreams that the Queen would come to Chippenham, let alone when I was mayor."

The itinerary has yet to be finalised but Coun Webb said she understood the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh would arrive by train in the morning, go on to Malmesbury for lunch, before visiting Calne in the afternoon.

Included in the tour will be a visit to Chippenham's Heritage Centre.

Town clerk Laurie Brown said: "We have been hoping for some time we would be honoured with a visit, and we are delighted it has been confirmed.

"She will visit the Heritage Centre so we can show our newest facility. It will show the links between Chippenham and the Royal Family have gone back many, many years.

"It will be a wonderful occasion, when the Queen will also be able to meet people in the Market Place and High Street on a walk-about.

"It's not often the monarch visits a town project and it is magnificent she will visit the town council's latest facility. I hope people will turn out in their thousands."

Coun Webb said the Duke of Edinburgh is president of the Playing Fields Association and she hoped the visit might coincide with the launch of Chippenham's long-awaited new playing fields.

"It would be lovely to name the new fields after Prince Philip or the Queen," she said.

Coun Webb is a keen supporter of the Royal Family. "They are wonderful, and Prince Phillip has a good sense of humour that is often misunderstood, I think."

The town council has already issued an official statement saying is overjoyed about the visit.

It says: "It is anticipated the Queen and Prince Phillip will take full advantage of Chippenham's traffic-free High Street with walkabouts to the Chippenham Museum and Heritage Centre and the Buttercross, together with the opportunity of meeting the local community."

This will be Chippenham's third official Royal visit. King Edward visited in VII in July 1907 and Queen Mary in 1943.

Chippenham royalist Phyllis Knaggs, of Woodlands Road, said: "It's brilliant news. We'll all be there to see her."

Deputy mayor of Malmesbury and local historian John Bowen said: "In the last Millennium we had seven visits from the reigning monarch what a way to start a new Millennium."

He said Henry VII, Henry III and Charles I had called in at Malmesbury, though Charles I had found the townspeople very antagonistic.

Calne Mayor Eric Porter was also delighted by the announcement.

He said: "It's absolutely fantastic news for Calne, particularly coming at a time when the town centre is finally reaching completion."

Calne town clerk Ann Kingdon said she was looking forward to showing the Queen and Prince Phillip the major developments in the town.