In pictures: The Queen's day in Cambridge

The Queen picked up some tips to pass on to the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to a maternity hospital in East Anglia.

A small pool used by Claire Morris, 42, to give birth to her first child in the early hours of Thursday morning left the Queen intrigued.

The new mother and her partner Stephen Tibbett, 44, proudly showed off their daughter, Charlotte Rose Tibbett Morris, when the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh toured a new £30 million extension to Cambridge's Rosie Maternity Hospital.

Earlier in the day the mysteries of conception were explained to the Queen when she toured a world leading research institute dubbed the "Nobel Prize factory".

Peering down a powerful microscope to look at minute mice eggs, the Queen appeared fascinated as scientists explained their work trying to discover why some women trying to conceive produce abnormal eggs.

Around 10 perfectly circular mice eggs had been readied for viewing by Dr Melina Schuh and her team from the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, on the same campus site as the hospital.

The Queen and Duke arrived in the famous university city by a scheduled train service from London, then travelled the short distance from the station by a single decker bus, part of the guided busway service.

The royals sat apart, each with a window seat on opposite sides of the bus.