A WOMAN who has sent The Royal Family a number of hand-crafted presentation pieces was presented to King Charles and the Queen Consort yesterday (April 26).
Shirley McKenzie, from Raby Mere, spent 27 years of her life as Head of Department for Business and Information Technology at Wirral Met College and is a serving Wirral magistrate.
She was also chair of the Merseyside Advisory Committee.
For the past 11 years, Shirley has designed and hand-crafted presentation pieces for The Royal Family on behalf of the Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside.
In 2012, Shirley was asked by the then Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside, Dame Lorna Muirhead DCVO DBE, who Shirley described as an "incredible woman" to make a card for the 90th birthday of Prince Phillip.
In 2015, Shirley commemorated Queen Elizabeth II becoming the longest-serving monarch by making a three-part presentation piece that incorporated historical information and Royal photographs and in 2016 she made a multi-layered card and a bespoke box to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday.
Speaking to the Globe, Shirley said: "I was absolutely delighted to learn the Queen liked it and put it on display, I was so chuffed."
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Shirley meets King Charles and the Queen Consort
Yesterday (April 26) Charles and Camilla visited the Liverpool Arena to unveil the now complete Eurovision stage.
They also took a visit to Liverpool's Central Library.
Shirley wanted to create another gift, to mark Charles and Camilla's coronation which is taking place next week (May 6) so created a series of four individual watercolour paintings to represent the Roses of England, Thistles of Scotland, Daffodils of Wales and Shamrock of Northern Ireland.
"I decided to come out of my comfort zone of handcrafts and watercolour instead as I know King Charles is a consummate watercolour artist", Shirley said.
After arriving in Liverpool, Shirley prepared to be presented to the pair.
As well as the four paintings, Shirley also presented a hand-crafted box and card on behalf of Lord Lieutenant Mark Blundell and the people of Merseyside to Charles and Camilla.
She said: "It was just wonderful. It was an honour and a privilege to be presented to King Charles and the Queen Consort.
"The band was playing and I shook Camilla's hand.
"I think the King was a bit taken back by the paintings. He smiled and looked at me and said 'you must keep painting'.
"What struck me was they were being moved on but he stayed to listen intently."
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