THE Southampton-based commander of a British frigate on pirate-hunting duties in the Gulf received the Queen's "royal blessing" today.

David Wilkinson, 44, swapped his warship's bridge for the manicured lawns of the official residence of Britain's ambassador to Oman where he met the monarch.

HMS Cornwall is on a six-month deployment to the Gulf protecting shipping in the area with other coalition vessels and was close enough for its commander and six sailors to join the event.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are coming to the end of a five-day state visit to the Gulf which has already taken them to the United Arab Emirates.

In the grounds of Ambassador Dr Noel Guckian's home overlooking the waters of the Gulf of Oman, the country's ministers mingled with British businessman, prominent members of the UK's ex-pat community and diplomats.

A jazz band of teenagers from the American British Academy played for the guests who sipped soft drinks in temperatures well into the 90s.

The royal couple, who were joined by Foreign Secretary William Hague and his wife Ffion, were greeted when they arrived by the sounds of bagpipes played by former Pipe Major Iain Hutton, 47, who gave a rendition of Scotland The Brave from a hill overlooking the sea.

Commander Wilkinson, from Southampton, who joined the Navy as a 17-year-old, said: "It's a huge honour being here. We just happened to be in the area as part of our deployment for the protection of international shipping throughout the area.

"The Queen knew all about our operations and I'm very proud to have met her today. Now we can return to operations with her royal blessing."

The threat posed by the marauders was highlighted earlier this month when Somali pirates released British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler.

The commander added: "Piracy has been around for centuries but what we've got now is a fairly sophisticated business model and what the international community is doing is putting pressure on them, but not putting lives at risk as sometimes hostages are involved."

At the start of the month the frigate came across five Algerian refugees who had been adrift for almost a week in a makeshift boat and returned them to their homeland where the warship was due to dock.

Commander Wilkinson said: "We looked after them and gave them emergency aid as they were in a bad way after being in the water for five days and had been drinking sea water."