Queen Elizabeth II's January–February 1956 visit was the most extensive royal tour Nigeria has ever hosted. The royal yacht did not call; the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh flew in and out of Kano and travelled by the Nigerian Railway between Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu and Kaduna. Governor-General Sir James Robertson received the party at every stop. On 29 January 1956 at Lugard Hall, Kaduna, the Queen formally renamed the Nigeria Regiment 'The Queen's Own Nigerian Regiment' — a battle-honour the unit retained until 1960.
The Queen attended the Northern Region durbar in Kaduna (where the emirs of Kano, Sokoto, Bornu and Zaria rode in ceremonial procession), opened the new University College Ibadan, and laid the foundation stone of what would become the National Stadium, Lagos. The trip was the first time most Nigerians had seen a sitting British monarch; Lagos crowds were estimated at over half a million along the Marina route. The Queen referred back to the 1956 tour repeatedly in subsequent public appearances, including her 2003 CHOGM address in Abuja, in which she spoke of her 'vivid memories' of the visit.