Delight at signed photo from The Queen for 65th wedding anniversary

Dennis and June Wilkinson, aged 94 and 89 respectively, received a special card signed by The Queen on their 60th wedding anniversary, as is tradition.

But for their 65th anniversary this year, they also received a card with a personalised message, which arrived in July, and could be among some of the last ones sent out by The Queen before her death on September 8.

Dennis and June first met as school children and were married on March 30, 1957, and they lived in Berkshire until they moved to Hagworthingham in 2020.

They had three children – 58-year-old twins Amanda and Sally, and a son Stephen, 60.

June said she was “delighted” to receive the personally signed card from The Queen, and said the card and photograph have taken pride of place on their wall:

"I’m just wondering if there are any other people in the area who have had one, as I think it’s very rare for people to get them,” she said.

Dennis has his own memories of HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, as His Highness was Dennis’s instructor when they were in the Royal Navy together.

Dennis remembers the Duke of Edinburgh as a wonderful instructor, and when he and June went down to London for his wedding to the then-Princess Elizabeth, he said that Prince Philip spotted him in the crowd around Westminster Abbey and pointed him out to Elizabeth.

"He said ‘that’s one of my lads’”, Dennis remembered fondly.