AN ADMINISTRATOR from York has returned from Buckingham Palace where she collected her MBE from Princess Anne.

Beryl Cox, from Skelton, received the honour in recognition of her services to the administration of justice over the past 24 years.

The 64-year-old, who works for York’s Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) in Fishergate, said: “It feels so unreal.

“It was an incredible experience to go to Buckingham Palace and it still seems as if it has happened to somebody else and not me.

“When I was down there standing next to all these soldiers with the Military Cross, I was thinking, ‘I’ve just gone to work and done my job and these soldiers have been out to Afghanistan’.

“I was a bag of nerves before getting my award, but Princess Anne soon calmed my nerves. She was really chatty and friendly.”