When one is the monarch, one is used to being given a comfy seat in the front row.

But yesterday the Queen found herself perched several rows back as she watched the Commonwealth Games swimming heats.

She was given an ordinary plastic seat and then found her view obscured by a woman in a rather large hat.

The offending spectator was her own lady-in-waiting, the Hon Annabel Whitehead, who made matters worse by having chosen a very similar shade of green in which to dress.

Queen Elizabeth II spent most of her afternoon trying to improve her view - which was somewhat obscured by her lady-in-waiting's enormous green hat.

As the swimming races got off to an exciting start below, she could be seen craning her neck to try and get a better view over Mrs Whitehead.

The Queen began to look dejected as she dodged around her lady-in-waiting to catch a glimpse of the heats of the men's 50m and women's 100m butterfly.

At one point, she even appeared to sit back in exasperation, as fellow spectators around her got heavily involved in the races.

But it seemed the Queen was too polite to ask her lady-in-waiting to move - and instead spent her time dodging around Dame Whitehead as she moved position.

Dame Whitehead, 71, had already risked royal disapproval by wearing a green ensemble similar to the Queen's - which actually appeared to clash.