Celebration: 110-year-old Catherine Masters is delighted to find her birthday card from the Queen is different from the previous five she has receivedWhen she complained that the Queen sent out the 'same old birthday card' each year, Catherine Masters was rewarded with a visit from Prince William - and an apology on behalf of his grandmother.
But it didn't end there.
On her 110th birthday yesterday outspoken Mrs Masters received a new card featuring the monarch in a refreshingly different outfit.
On her 110th birthday yesterday outspoken Mrs Masters received a new card featuring the monarch in a refreshingly different outfit.
Great-grandmother Mrs Masters wrote to Buckingham Palace earlier this year, politely pointing out that the traditional birthday card sent to centenarians had featured the same photograph - the Queen in a yellow dress - for the past five years.
Pensioners receive a royal telegram when they reach 100, again when they are 105 and each year after that.
The Queen wore a red dress in the first card Mrs Masters received, but in the others she was pictured in yellow.
Her letter clearly struck a cord with courtiers, who arranged for her grandson to make a surprise visit to the Grange Care Centre in Stanford-in-the-Vale, Oxfordshire, to discuss the matter in person over tea and scones in May.
William apologised and promised that his grandmother would wear a different outfit for the next card. 'I told him I would like the Queen to have a new dress,' she said at the time.
'I think either a blue or white one would be nice.'
On opening her card yesterday, she remarked excitedly: 'Oh look, it's blue! That's lovely, that'll do.'
Born in Dundee on November 23, 1899, when Queen Victoria was still on the throne, Mrs Masters was the second oldest of four siblings.
She moved to London when she was nine and married twice.
She moved to the care home three years ago after her grandson David, with whom she used to live in Oxfordshire, emigrated.
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