Norfolk knitter Margaret Seaman remembers her audience with the Queen at Sandringham House

  • Margaret Seaman remembers meeting the Queen at Sandringham.

A 93-year-old woman who created a knitted model of the Sandringham Estate has described the 'special' moment when she had a private audience with the Queen.

Great-great-grandmother Margaret Seaman, from Caister-on-Sea in Norfolk, is well known for her woollen masterpieces, but it is her model of Sandringham that turned her into knitting royalty.

The creation was put on display in the ballroom at the real Sandringham House last year.

Margaret, who was born three years after the Queen, said she was busy setting up the display when she realised someone was standing next to her.

"I was looking in a box for some of the trees we were sorting out and these feet appeared at the side of the box, and I thought that's not my daughter's shoes, who's that?" said Margaret.

"I looked up, saw her face and it was the Queen! I said 'Oh hello' and she had a twinkle in her eye.

"She was lovely, she said 'I've come to see your knitting' and from then on it was a private meeting and she stayed a quarter of an hour talking about everything on the project and it was lovely."

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip recreated in wool by knitter Margaret Seaman. Credit: ITV News Anglia

Margaret added: "I just can't believe it, when I look back on it, I just think how lucky I was to meet her.

"I really was lucky and my daughter feels the same. There's not many people that have that chance is there?

"I still find it hard to believe that I really did meet her. It's just one of those things, it was so special."

On learning of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Margaret said it was like losing a "sister".

She said: "After I spoke to her, a year ago now, and I look back on that, I always think to myself it was just as though meeting a sister again after a long time.

"It just seemed as if I'd always known her, she was so friendly and kind.

"She never, ever found fault with anybody and what they were doing.

"She always seemed she looked on the good side of everybody."

Knitter Margaret Seaman, 93, and her model of Sandringham House. Credit: ITV News Anglia

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