Wolverhampton's 'Man on the Oss' statue honoured on 150th anniversary of Queen Victoria's visit - PICTURES

The scene was set by young actors from Central Youth Theatre who re-enacted the historic visit, including the grand arrival into Queen Square of 'Victoria' in a horse-drawn carriage before the statue of Prince Albert, covered in a velvet cloth, was unveiled.

WATCH our 360 video and picture and footage from the ceremony

Last week the Duke of Gloucester, Victoria's great-great grandson, followed in her footsteps and formally rededicated the statue, also unveiling a commemorative plaque at the spot to mark the historic occasion.

But the main celebrations were reserved for today's actual anniversary, marking 150 years to the day since the visit on November 30, 1866.

Bands granted the Freedom of the City paraded through the streets, the first time that all four units - the Staffordshire Regiment, the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering, DCAE Cosford, the 210 (Staffordshire) Battery 106th (Yeomanry) Regiment Royal Artillery, and West Midlands Fire Service - had marched together.

Hundreds of shoppers and workers on their lunch break crowded into Queen Square to watch the spectacle.

And there were huge cheers when a timely mass toast - at 1.50pm precisely - was made to Victoria, Albert and the city of Wolverhampton.

The city council provided a limited number of drinks whilst people had been encouraged to bring in a tipple of their own for the toast.

Queen Victoria's trip to the Black Country stunned the world, not only because it was her first public appearance since Prince Albert's death five years earlier but also because it was not to a more fashionable or prestigious town or city.

But she had privately vowed to make Wolverhampton her first port of call when she came out of mourning after being moved by a letter of consolation signed by 220 widows from the city who collectively offered her 'the deepest sympathy from own own stricken hearts'.

A multi-faith service of thanksgiving was due to be held later at St Peter's Church, as well as a celebratory dinner.