'I was there at the beginning'

As the Queen celebrates 50 glorious years of her reign, one man has a special reason to remember it as well - he was standing beside her on the day it all began.

As manager of the Royal Flight, Stan Bruce was one of the first people to serve the new monarch.

The news of the death of her father, George VI, reached the Queen on the afternoon of 6 February 1952, when she was on tour in central Africa.

Aged only 25, Princess Elizabeth became Queen on the instant her father died. The tour was cancelled and she returned home immediately.

Mr Bruce, of Lewisham, said: "She was a natural, strong person. She kept her emotions to herself. I thought she was very brave." On the 4,600-mile flight from Entebbe, Uganda, Mr Bruce's duties were to look after the Queen.

He said: "I remember I went into a side room at the airport to see if there was anything the Queen needed before the flight. She was sitting with Prince Philip, Lady Mountbatten and Philip's equerry, Mike Parker. All she said was 'I'm sorry to be putting you to so much trouble'. She asked if she could board the plane soon because she was tired."

He added: "It was a pleasure and a privilege to be connected with her when she became Her Majesty.

"She was a Princess when we took her out there and the Queen when we brought her back." Mr Bruce retired from British Airways in 1981, but still receives regular invites to the Palace.