Her Majesty appeared to walk up unannounced behind the British wildcard player just as he was tying his shoelaces to head to the men’s singles quarter-finals on Centre Court.

In a surprise greeting, the young Briton stood up and turned around to face the Queen, who shook his hand before entering the Royal Box alongside her sister, Annabel Elliot.

He could be heard telling her: “Nice to meet you.”

After beating Flavio Cobolli, his Italian opponent, in three straight sets to get through to the semi-finals, Fery revealed that the Queen had shared “kind words” with him.

Speaking about their encounter at a press conference after his win, he said: “We were just getting ready to come on and she came to say hello to introduce yourself to both me and Flavio.

“And I mean, it’s obviously an honour to play in front of her, and great to meet her. She had some really kind words for me at the end as well.”

He added: “So, yeah, playing in front of tennis legends, and now the Queen, it’s special.”

Discussing what Her Majesty told him after the game, he said: “The Queen was waiting for me at the end of the match and she congratulated me.

“I told her how much of an honour it was for me to play in front of her, and she just said, ‘Congratulations, keep going.’ I told her it was my birthday on Sunday, so it would be great to play the Wimbledon final on my birthday.”

Elsewhere, the Princess of Wales congratulated Fery on social media, writing: “A memorable day at @Wimbledon.

“Congratulations to Arthur Fery on becoming the first British wildcard to reach the Gentlemen’s Singles semi-finals in the Open Era, a fantastic achievement that has inspired so many. Wishing you the very best for the next round. C.”

The match was watched by the Queen, her sister, Peter Phillips and his wife, Harriet Sperling.

Earlier in the day, the Queen, wearing a turquoise chiffon dress by British designer Anna Valentine, smiled as she entered the players’ area.

She met Heather Watson, the former British No 1 who won 10 titles, including the mixed doubles at Wimbledon in 2016, during her career.

Watson said of the Queen: “She’s super down-to-earth.” Asked what they discussed, she said: “I started sweating profusely with nerves. She asked me about Wimbledon and my career.”

Watson also said the royal took an interest in her career, adding: “She was lovely.”

The tennis star then spoke with Ms Elliot, who told Watson that “they’d been coming to Wimbledon since they were very young”.

She added: “I met the previous Queen, I think it was over 10 years ago now, in exactly the same sort of place with Laura (Robson).”

The Queen also spoke with ball boy Zebedee, who studies at Saint Cecilia’s CofE School in Southfields, and Aniya, a ball girl from Tiffin’s Girls in Kingston.

Zebedee said the experience was “very special”, while Aniya said: “It was an amazing experience. I really enjoyed it. It’s definitely an opportunity of a lifetime.”

Her Majesty asked the youngsters how long they had been ball girls and boys for, and what courts they had worked on.

The Queen also spoke with Richard Gammage, who is the chief executive of City Harvest, a charity combating food waste. He said: “It was lovely to meet Her Majesty.”

Asked what they discussed, he said: “We talked about what we do and how we do it, she was really interested in all of that.

“I had the great privilege of meeting her about 15 years ago when she was becoming involved with the Royal Air Force Station, and she remembered that, which was lovely.”

He added: “She was interested in what we do with the food and what sort of groups the food goes to, because we do everything from women’s refugees to day centres for people who are rough sleeping, youth groups, school groups, church groups, a variety of denominations.”

The Queen also met Morag Ranford, who had worked in Wimbledon’s press operations team for 50 years, and Pete Dobson, a longstanding safety officer who has worked at the tournament for 25 years.

The Queen is among a host of famous faces due to take a seat in the royal box on Centre Court on Wednesday.

She joins American actress Elle Fanning, adventurer Bear Grylls, and British actor Sir David Suchet, among others.