Code-breaker Betty Webb, 99, reflects on 'wonderful' King's coronation

A 99-year-old who worked as a wartime code-breaker has described what it was like having "a front row seat" and waking up at 5am to attend the King's coronation.

Charlotte "Betty" Webb, MBE, from Wythall, Worcestershire, who became a national hero after working as a code-breaker at Bletchley Park during World War Two, described the event as "magnificent" and "wonderful".

Stationed at the hub during the war, Mrs Webb was part of the team that helped crack the Enigma code, bringing the conflict to an early end.

She told ITV News Central last week she had unexpectedly received an envelope in the post.

She said she had been waiting for a card for her upcoming 100th birthday when the invitation had arrived.

Mrs Webb told ITV News Central: "I was privileged to be in the nave, I was as close to the king as I am to you, so that was a bonus."

'My niece who went with me organised with her daughter in New Zealand to wake us up at the appropriate time'

Alongside an MBE, she has also been awarded the Légion d'Honneur, France's highest honour, for her secret wartime work.

Mrs Webb, originally from south Shropshire, remembers two previous coronations: King George VI's in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth II's in 1953.

And she said that being able to attend the King's coronation gave a "tremendous feeling of specialness".

She adds the historic event was "magnificent, wonderful" because "the acoustics there are quite wonderful".