Luke Atkinson (19) received the gold medal reserved for the top scholar of Lynn’s King Edward VII School and as top achiever at the town’s Springwood High School, Christopher Stevens-Smith (18) received a copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare signed by The Queen.

Each of the students went along to Sandringham House with their parents and respective headteachers for the presentation and, after waiting for The Queen to return from church, had individual private chats with her before receiving their prizes.

Luke, of North Wootton, said: “We went in and had to run the gauntlet of corgis. There were nine of them all barking at us at once. It was all very strange really, but a fantastic experience.”

Luke gained five As at A-level in physics, biology, chemistry, maths and further maths and is now at Cambridge University studying natural sciences.

He just beat his headteacher Mike Douglass’s son Chris to the prize. Chris also got five As but his combined scores were just below that of Luke.

Springwood’s Christopher, of Springwood Estate, Gaywood, got three As in classical civilisation, history and English literature and is now studying history at Exeter University.

He said The Queen chatted to him about his university, history, his sports of volleyball and football and told him about the flowers children at the church presented her with.

He added: “She was really friendly. I was very nervous before I went in, but she was very good at putting you at ease.”