This is Leicestershire --A lucky handful of people representing a cross-section of duty and service in Leicestershire were among the 2,000 guests invited to Westminster Abbey yesterday for a service to mark 60 years since the Queen's coronation.
Her Majesty was accompanied at the service by more than 20 members of her family, including the Duke of Edinburgh and the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge.
For guest Manjula Sood, who is assistant city mayor of Leicester and was invited in her capacity as chairman of Leicester Council of Faiths, it was a red-letter day in more ways than one, after her son provided a chauffeur-driven Bentley to whisk her to London.
Councillor Sood said: "It was fabulous, brilliant, a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see all the royal family together.
"There were only 2,000 people invited so it felt very special to be part of it. I feel really very privileged and honoured and blessed to have been there, it was quite an experience. I will cherish every moment.
"We were sat on the same side as the royal family, not very far behind them. Just to be part of it was like a dream come true.
"It was lovely to sing the national anthem in the presence of the Queen and so many members of the royal family."
Coun Sood said her son, Mitesh, hired the Bentley for the occasion, telling his mother: "You're not going by train or taxi to such a special occasion."
She was joined by family friend Amritpal Kaur after her original companion, Ranjit Kaur Aulakh, also of Leicester Council of Faiths, had to pull out at the last minute due to her husband being ill.
Coun Sood said: "I didn't want to waste the ticket for such a special occasion so I rang the abbey and asked if it would be okay to bring someone else."
Amritpal, of Narborough Road South, said: "It was kind of her to give me the opportunity to experience the event.
"I was so excited, I went home to tell my son and he was more excited than I was. The ride in the Bentley was the icing on the cake, the whole day was a real privilege."
Canon Barry Naylor, urban canon for Leicester, also attended the service.
He said: "It was an absolutely fantastic occasion."
Officer cadet Jessica Barnes, 18, of Welbeck Defence College, in Woodhouse, near Loughborough, was also among the guests.
She said: "It's something I will remember for the rest of my life. It was a great atmosphere and you could tell it was an event that mattered to the country and the Queen."
Fellow student and officer cadet Georgia Pathy , who also attended, said: "It was just amazing. It was great to see so many members of the royal family, and everyone there got a reminder of just how much the Queen has given the country."
Former Grenadier Guards John Cowley and Ronald Fletcher, who were both on parade for the original service, were also among the invited guests.
Mr Cowley, 78, from Coalville, is chairman of the Leicestershire and Rutland branch of the Grenadier Guards Association. Mr Fletcher is secretary and treasurer of the branch. Reported by This is 16 hours ago.