Queen honours soldiers' families
The Queen has presented the Elizabeth Cross to the relatives of six soldiers killed on active service.
It was the first time she has personally presented the new honour which bears her name.
But the private presentation ceremony at Catterick Garrison was overshadowed by accusations from the family of Trooper Robert Pearson that the Queen has taken too long to acknowledge his death while serving in Afghanistan.
Trooper Pearson, 22, from Grimsby, was killed by a mine in Helmand Province.
His father Paul Pearson told Sky News: "Robert signed and died for Queen and country and you don't even get a letter from the Queen."
The Elizabeth Cross is awarded to the next-of-kin of Armed Forces personnel killed on active service, or as a result of terrorism, in a mark of national recognition of their loss.
It is the first time a reigning monarch has given their name to a new award since King George VI instituted the George Cross in 1940.
The soldiers, from the Queen's Royal Lancers, were killed while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Queen was visiting Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire in her capacity as Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment which is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year.
