Still, it’s always easier if you can get them in the garden, have 1,000 adults on hand to encourage good behaviour, get J. K. Rowling, Postman Pat and the Queen to divert them and have Jamie Oliver to feed them with a picnic free of those nasty artificial additives that make them hyperactive.

Although the Queen has 40 acres of back garden at Buckingham Palace, there are still bushes to get lost in, flower beds to trample and lakes to fall into. But yesterday she transformed it into a magic garden filled with actors playing characters from children’s literature, from Winnie-the-Pooh to Paddington Bear.

One thousand children aged 4 to 14 won tickets in a national ballot that attracted hundreds of thousands of applications to attend the event as part of the monarch’s 80th birthday celebrations. Each was allowed to bring a friend and an adult. There was plenty of room; the Queen’s grown-up garden parties attract crowds of 8,000.

As the children entered the Palace they passed a display of vehicles: Noddy’s car, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mr Toad’s 1929 Bentley. They were greeted in the Grand Entrance by a huge model of the Big Friendly Giant, and on the terrace found the Mad Hatter’s tea party in progress. On the lawn the immediate attraction was Jamie Oliver’s picnic — a nutty purple bag for each child crammed with healthy food.

The other star attraction was J. K. Rowling, one of more than 20 children’s authors installed in the marquee that usually serves as the garden party tea tent. “I think this is the most wonderful way to celebrate the Queen’s 80th birthday,” Ms Rowling said. “We are in a golden age for children’s literature in Britain. I always believed children would come back to enjoying books — and that’s not just down to me.” Harry Potter would have been “a bit fazed” by the event, she said. “But he’s quite cool, and I think he would have been impressed.”

In the background, loudspeakers operated a child rescue service. “Amanda Applegate, you’ve lost your Mum. Could you come and find her by Thomas the Tank Engine.”

The party was the idea of Peter Orton, of the Children’s Literacy Trust. “Nobody realises how successful a nation we are with children’s storytellers and illustrators. This is a magnificent occasion.”

Word went around soon after 5pm that David Beckham had scored — not something that was announced over the loudspeakers. The Queen, wearing a blue floral dress, was mobbed by children as she toured the garden, smiling and at ease. She and Winnie-the-Pooh are the same age, both having been born in 1926. Across the garden the Countess of Wessex also mingled with children, but she is more of the Paddington Bear era. Michael Bond, Paddington’s creator, also celebrates his 80th birthday this year, and was on hand to sign autographs.

A pantomime was performed by a star cast headed by Jonathan Ross. And in a tribute to her grandfather Roald, Sophie Dahl played herself, re-enacting the story of the BFG, in which she goes to live with the Queen in Buckingham Palace. It was a clever conceit, the plot being a search for the Queen’s handbag containing her speech. It was, of course, found and the Queen made her brief speech of thanks at the end.

So no jelly and no lollypops. But after all the other excitement there may have been a few tears before bedtime when the 2,000 little dears got home.

'Gruffalo came up and gave Mum a shock'

OSCAR DUFFY, 6, from Colliers Wood, southwest London

“Before we went in I met two of the Mr Men. Mr Bump and Mr Nosey were walking up and down as we were waiting outside the Palace.

“I was really scared going into the Palace. I wanted to see the Queen and I was going to bow and say ‘Yes, Your Majesty’ when I met her. But when we got into the garden they gave us a camera and I took a picture of the funny statues that weren’t really statues that were moving.

“I also saw Spot the Dog and the Gruffalo. The Gruffalo came up to me as I was eating a sausage roll and gave my Mum a shock. The food was lovely, especially the meringues. But I didn’t meet the Queen.”

WILLIAM DUFFY, 9

“I was really disappointed when I realised that I was going to miss the England match to go to the Palace, but Mum said that they might have a big screen in there.

“But when I got there it was great. I saw Ron Weasley and Neville from the Harry Potter books and I got their autographs. I asked them if they knew what was going to happen next in the books but they said that they didn’t know either and were dying to find out too.

“I went looking for more people from Harry Potter but found the BBC tent and they told me that Beckham had scored and England had won. It was really brilliant.

“But the best bit was just before the concert when JK Rowling came on stage and read from the latest Harry Potter book.

“It was magic.”

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