LONDON (AFP) - Britain's stars of this year's Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio attended an "amazing" reception at Buckingham Palace - the official London home of Queen Elizabeth II - on Tuesday (Oct 18).

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, were also in attendance.

Earlier on Tuesday, some 6,000 fans gathered in London's Trafalgar Square for the second day of a two-day celebration parade lauding the achievements of the 2016 British team in that started in the northern city of Manchester on Monday (Oct 17).

'The Heroes Return', as it was called, came after the British Olympic and Paralympic teams both finished second in their respective overall medal tables in Brazil.

In Rio, the British team became the first nation to increase its medal haul immediately after staging an Olympics, taking 67 medals - two more than they managed at London 2012 - while ParalympicsGB returned with 147 medals, including 64 golds.

"It's absolutely amazing - I'm so excited," said gold medal-winning boxer Nicola Adams. "It's going to be so much fun meeting all the royals, especially the Queen."

Olympic sprint swimming champion Adam Peaty, speaking at the parade, said he hoped Great Britain's success at this year's Rio Olympics will act as a springboard for another large medal haul at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

Peaty broke his own world record to win Britain's first gold of the Games in the men's 100 metres breaststroke before taking a silver in the 4x100m medley relay.

"Swimming has had a rough spot these past four years," he told the cheering crowd. "But thankfully we have a strong and hungry team who can inspire millions of kids around the world and that's what it's all about for us.

"Hopefully you can all go on and take some of that gold into your lives and that's exactly why us Olympians and Paralympians do it.

"Hopefully we can continue to make you proud because there's nothing like winning gold for you guys."