A scouse nan will never forget the Liverpool FC joke Queen Elizabeth made while visiting her in her living room.
Brenda Prendergast, 65, was handpicked by bosses at Riverside Housing to host the Queen at her house in Bronte Street in July 1999, as part of a Royal visit to mark the regeneration of the city centre estate. The retired receptionist has described the Queen as "really down to earth" and said she even made a quip about Liverpool FC while talking to her young son, John.
Brenda told the ECHO : "We had to be up at 7am and all the security men came round with their sniffer dogs. They were there all morning while we were getting ready and there was a special branch police officer there too.
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"Me and my husband, Charlie, had to meet the Queen by the gate and she was just lovely. She asked how long we’d lived here for. She was just dead down to earth and, because she was at ease, I was.
"She had to come in the living room and meet my three children and then I took her through the back kitchen into the parlour. She was asking my son which football team he supported and then said: 'Oh silly me, Liverpool, of course.'"
Brenda added that the Queen spent "10 to 15 minutes" sat on the settee as she asked how the regeneration project had helped to develop the area. Brenda and Charlie also presented their guest with a specially commissioned painting of the Queen outside St Andrew's Gardens student accommodation, which she also toured during her her visit.
Brenda said the monarch was "dead made up" with the picture and has since been told the painting was hung in one of the royal correspondence rooms at Buckingham Palace. To mark the Queen's memorable visit, Brenda was granted special royal permission to have a plaque put up outside her house, and also has a number of framed photos of the special day hanging in her living room.
While a number of people in Merseyside will watch the Queen's state funeral next Monday (September 19), Brenda's experience means she will feel especially moved as the country's longest-reigning monarch is laid to rest. She said: “It really upset me when I found out Queen Elizabeth had passed away. It was an honour and a privilege to have had her in my house and she was just such a lovely woman."
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