OXFORDSHIRE residents said they felt proud and privileged to be honoured at Buckingham Palace.

Seven people from the county, who were named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, met the Princess Royal on Tuesday.

Among them was 65-year-old Christine Burden from Meadow Lane, East Oxford, who received an MBE for her work with older people.

She set up the Sweet Memories Senior Citizens’ Club in Percy Street, which attracts about 80 people each week.

She said: “It was emotional, a very overwhelming day. My husband Colin had tears in his eyes.

“I was a bit disappointed it wasn’t the Queen, but Princess Anne was lovely..

“She spoke to me all about the coffee mornings and thanked me for the work I do.

“Words can’t describe what the inside of the palace is like. And my sons told me I looked beautiful and how proud they were of me.

“But it’s back to normal now, organising the next coffee morning and getting the washing on.”

Also receiving an MBE was mental health worker Colin Godfrey, 59, from Bicester.

In 1995 he launched Oxford Coasters, which takes people with mental health problems on exhilarating outings from hiking to rock climbing.

He said: “It’s been quite a period. I feel very privileged, and hopefully it will help raise awareness of the challenges people with mental health problems face.

“Considering Princess Anne was talking to each of us, and there were 120 recipients, she was very personable and knew about all of us.”

Others honoured were Richard Makepeace from Oxford, who was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.

Jane Cocking from Sutton, near Witney, was made an OBE, along with Jonathan Ayres from Woodstock and Mark Pyper from Oxford.

Jill McCleery, a governor at St Ebbe’s Primary School in South Oxford, was made an MBE.