THE school dinner hall at Drapers' Academy may never see anything like it again.
And the food was literally fit for... well, a Queen.
Principal Matthew Slater declared it would be a day to be remembered for a lifetime as Her Majesty arrived to officially open the new £24 million school in Settle Road, Harold Hill, on Friday.
Instead, the royal guest, dressed in light pink, settled down to a three-course lunch starting with ham hock terrine, followed by canon of lamb, and roasted rhubarb and ginger crème brûlée as pudding.
Mr Slater, who had been in charge of Kingswood School for two years before Drapers' opened on the same site in September, said: "What an amazing day."
"It was absolutely wonderful and the Queen was so generous with her time. She spoke to so many people at the school.
"She was interested in speaking to everyone and learn about everything we were doing.
"It is hard to put the day into words what meeting her was like. I'm not a nervous sort of person, but when she walked in it was amazing."
Planning for the Queen, who arrived in her capacity as Royal Freeman of the Drapers' Company, has been a year in the making.
Her tour of the new school, paid for by the Government, took in the sports hall where she watched pupils using the climbing wall, cricket nets and trampolines.
In the activity studio she was treated to a performance of the musical Little Shop of Horrors, while in the main hall she was able to listen to the school choir perform Something Inside So Strong by Labi Siffre.
The Queen's also visited the learning support department and science laboratories.
The main school hall is now to be known as the Diamond Jubilee Hall.
Year 9 pupil Holly Shorey said: "I will remember today for the rest of my life.
"I felt that I was living in a dream. Today has been an absolute honour."
Year 10 student Molly Matthews said: "When I first saw The Queen walk through the door I was nervous and excited.
"When she walked past she smiled at me and I felt very happy."
About 1,000 well-wishers gathered outside to cheer on the 86-year-old monarch, whose only other visit to Havering was in 2003 when she strolled around Romford market.
It has been an exciting summer for Drapers' Academy – and not just because of the new multimillion-pound replacement built on the site of the old Kingswood School.
Last term it achieved its best ever GCSE results with a pass rate of 62 per cent for five GCSEs, including English and maths, compared to just 36 per cent the year before.
Mr Slater said: "Things have improved beyond measure.
"Two years ago the school had 200 fixed-term exclusions and now we have zero.
"This has not come easily. It has required a lot of hard graft.
"But what a way to celebrate our achievements with a visit from the Queen during jubilee year."
