109 year old complains about birthday cards from Queen, then gets visit from William

Blackleaf

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Catherine Masters, who is 109, wrote to Queen Elizabeth II to complain about the fact that the monarch is wearing the same yellow dress in each of the birthday cards she sent Catherine for the last five years.

She suggested to the Queen that maybe it was time to change the colour of her dress. Britons receive a telegram from the Queen when they reach 100, and again when they are 105 and each year after that.

But Catherine, who was born in 1899, the year that Queen Victoria was on the Throne, didn't expect that, to apologise, the Queen sent her grandson, Prince William, to her home in Oxfordshire!

William, who will one day be King, apologised and promised that his grandmother would wear a different outfit for the next card.

The two had a lengthy chat and had tea and scones together.

Catherine even gave William some tips on how to make shepherd's pie.

Catherine remarked: "You should have seen the smile on my face when the handsome young prince walked in!"

Catherine's father was a friend of Australian cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman, who played between 1928 and 1948. In 2001, just before Bradman died, the Australian Prime Minister John Howard called him the "greatest living Australian." Bradman played in the infamous "Bodyline" Ashes matches against England in 1932-33, when the England bowlers developed dangerous tactics to combat the awesome Aussie batsmen. As a result, several Australian batsman were injured by the fast moving, hard ball.

The Queen yesterday attended an inauguration ceremony at the South Hook Liquefied Natural Gas Terminal in Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire.


Prince William makes surprise visit to apologise to 109-year-old who complained about the Queen's birthday cards

By Daily Mail Reporter
13th May 2009
Daily Mail

At the age of 109, Catherine Masters has more right than most to say she's seen it all before.

And that includes the last five birthday cards she has received from the Queen.

On each of them, Her Majesty was pictured wearing the same yellow dress, prompting the great-grandmother to write to her suggesting it was time for a change.



Unannounced: Prince William chats with Catherine Masters and care home nurse Anel Vilijoen during his surprise visit to apologise in person for the Queen sending the same birthday card for five consecutive years


But even Mrs Masters could not believe her eyes at the response she got.

Prince William paid her a surprise visit, 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. 'I think either a blue or white one would be nice.'

The second in line to the throne breezed in to see Mrs Masters at the Grange Care Centre in Stanford in the Vale, Oxfordshire.


Mrs Masters politely wrote to point out that the Queen has sent her the same birthday card for five years in a row. Only one card is missing from her collection


The Queen yesterday attended an inauguration ceremony at the South Hook Liquefied Natural Gas Terminal in Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire


Mrs Masters and the casually-dressed young royal shared tea and scones during his 40-minute visit.

She said yesterday: 'You should have seen the smile on my face when the handsome young prince walked in. He asked me why I was still so fit and I put it down to a daily tipple of gin until I was 80.

'We talked about lots of things. He told me he liked making shepherd's pie and said he used a masher to mash the potatoes, but I told him he was doing it wrong - he should use a fork to fluff the potatoes!'

Born in Dundee on November 23, 1899, when Queen Victoria was still on the throne, Mrs Masters was the second oldest of four siblings. Her father, David Cromb, was a newspaper editor and a friend of Australian cricketing legend Sir Donald Bradman.

She moved to London when she was nine and married twice. Her first husband, John McInnes, who worked for a tea importing company, died in 1962. Six years later their only son Kenneth died of cancer.

THE WORLD IN 1899, THE YEAR CATHERINE WAS BORN



1st January - Spanish rule in Cuba ends
17th January - American gangster Al Capone was born
27th June - A Norwegian invents the paper clip
13th August - British filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock was born
11th October - The Second Boer War starts, fought between the British and the Boers and the Orange Free State in South Africa
16th December - AC Milan is founded
31st December - A large standing stone at Stonehenge falls over, the most recent time this has happened.


Mrs Masters married for the second time in 1971 to Albert Masters. She also outlived him, as well as her three siblings. She moved to the care home three years ago after her grandson David with whom she used to live in Oxfordshire, emigrated to South Africa.

Mrs Masters' other grandson Robert McInnes, 46, who shares the same birthday with her, said: 'She is an incredible lady. She has lived in three centuries and I think it's phenomenal-that my daughters, who are six and four, will grow up remembering someone who has done that and is such a direct link to history.'

Mrs Masters wrote to the Queen about her dress earlier this year. Britons receive a telegram from the Queen when they reach 100, and 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 in yellow.

Buckingham Palace replied saying the Queen changed the picture every five years and would be changing it this year.

The care home also wrote separately to the Palace after learning one of Mrs Masters' ambitions was to meet the Prince. She has been invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace on July 7.

Mr McInnes, of Littleworth, Oxfordshire added: 'Of course, we've got to take her to buy a new dress for that. She's a proud lady.'

A spokesman for William said: 'He does occasionally carry out private visits in response to his charities or other requests. As this was a private visit we do not feel it appropriate to comment further.'

  • Britain's oldest woman is Florence Baldwin, of Leeds, who is 113, a Guinness World Records spokesman said.
READERS' COMMENTS

best of british
- james, moscow
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My stepfather was 100 in 2001 and received THE card (only)....and I think the Queen was wearing this yellow dress then!...................but Prince Charles did come to open the residential home my mother and stepfather had moved into..........Prince Charles swapped cricketing stories with my stepfather - a demon bowler in his day!
- Carmel, Netanya/Israel
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That is so sweet and thoughtful! He will make a great king.
- Yvette, Louisiana, USA
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Why can't our MP's be as selfless as the senior Royals?
- Josh, Doncaster
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I think it shows good character as well as class for the Prince to do that! It shows he really cares about the people of his country and I think he'll make an excellent King someday!
- John, Weirton, WV USA

dailymail.co.uk
 
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karrie

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Jan 6, 2007
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Now that is a neat story. What a wonderful way to apologize for clearly breaking out the form letter for the occasion hey?
 

mabudon

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That's a fun story- not exactly news but oddly cute compared to a lot of what gets posted here. I can imagine my Nanny doing something like this had she reached that age :D