A Little ship owned by a man from Maidstone will be sailing directly behind the royal barge in the River Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant today.

Simon Palmer owns Hilfranor, a 4ft gentleman's twin screw motor cruiser built in 1935, out of mahogany, teak and oak.

Sunk by bombs from a German Stuka dive bomber at Dunkirk in 1940, Hilfranor was refloated, only to sink again on the Goodwin Sands before being rescued and towed into Ramsgate byy a Royal Navy minesweeper.

The evacuation of Dunkirk began on May 26, 1940 and was completed on June3, so the Little Ships on the Thames will be saluting the heroic exploits which saw the rescue of 338,000 British and French troops.

Mr Palmer, a trustee of the Dunkirk Little Ships' Restoration Trust said: "Our presence perhaps highlights the dedicated war service of Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh, who was a serving RN officer during the war."