Queen, 93, insists she's 'perfectly capable' of planting tree and gets digging with spade after man offers to do it for her

THE Queen has today shown she's no sap as she got her hands dirty planting a tree.

The 93-year-old monarch insisted she was "perfectly capable" to perform the task after a man offered to help her turn over the soil.

Her Majesty, who donned a delightfully bright pink outfit with white gloves this afternoon, had appeared in good spirits for her visit to the NIAB, the National Institute of Agricultural Botany.

And while NIAB chairman Jim Godfrey helpfully offered to plant the official tree, she replied: "No, no, I’m still perfectly capable of planting a tree!"

She then confidently held the shovel, shovelling dirt onto the sapling.

During today's day in Cambridge, the Queen was also given a mulberry bowl that was created from the tree that Queen Mary planted on 14 Oct 1921 when the original NIAB building was opened.

And she cheerfully listened about NIAB's work on vines for English wine, saying: "I have vines in Windsor. I don’t actually drink wine myself but I hear it’s very good."

The monarch was also presented with a posy with roses, chrysanthemums and wheat.

As part of her visit, she was shown an exhibition celebrating 100 years of crop research at NIAB, and heard about the new building facilities.

The Queen first visited in 1969 to mark its 50th anniversary.

The rest of her tour around Cambridge saw her visit the new site for the Royal Papworth Hospital.

The Queen's cheerful visit comes after Meghan Markle's trip to Wimbledon caused a stir when it was claimed the former actress' security asked tennis fans to not take photos of her.

Media consultant Sally Jones today claimed in Daily Telegraph column that she had been watching Serena Williams in action on Court 1 at Wimbledon when she was told not to photograph the Duchess of Sussex.

The claims saw a furious backlash, with Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan telling Meghan: "Go back to America and live privately".

Meghan and Prince Harry held a private christening for their son Archie at Windsor Castle over the weekend amid a blaze of controversy.

The new parents chose to withhold the names of the godparents of the seventh in line to the throne and only release pictures to the media afterwards.

Critics were unimpressed with the decision, pointing to recent news that the couple spent £2.4m of taxpayers' money refurbishing their Frogmore Cottage home.

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