Current Time Lord Matt Smith
Britain's Countess of Wessex hosted a reception to celebrate Doctor Who's 50th anniversary.
Four incarnations of the titular Time Lord character from the BBC sci-fi show flocked to Buckingham Palace upon the invitation of the royal, who is an avid fan of the programme.
The Countess looked delighted as she shook hands with Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Matt Smith and John Hurt in turn, the latter of whom plays a previously unknown "dark" incarnation of the Time Lord in this weekend's special anniversary episode.
Tom, 79, who played the Doctor from 1974 to 1981, boasted to the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "She told me I was her favourite Doctor, which is very thrilling and very flattering and I will probably never recover."
Meanwhile exiting Time Lord Matt, who will be replaced by Peter Capaldi next year, said Sophie had confessed to him "she was frightened by the Daleks when she was a kid" as she stood near a life-size replica of the robotic extraterrestrials.
The Queen's residence was specially decked out for the occasion with props from the show including two versions of the Tardis, a pair of Daleks and K-9 the robot dog.
Jenna-Louise Coleman, who plays the Doctor's current assistant, Clara Oswald, and former companion Catherine Tate were also in attendance.
The royal family will no doubt be tuning in when the highly-anticipated 'Doctor Who' anniversary episode is broadcast simultaneously across 84 countries this Saturday (23.11.13).
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