Mary receives her centenary birthday card from King Charles III

Mary with her treasured card from King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort

Sprightly Mary Hart from Chadderton became one of the first recipients of a 100th birthday card from recently-proclaimed King Charles III and the Queen Consort, Camilla.

Mary Stevenson Hart was born in Edinburgh on November 2, 1922, and served in the Army for four years, in the ATS auxiliary territorial services.

She met her late husband Alfred and then moved to Oldham in the late 1940s.

Mary is the proud mother of five sons, two of whom also served in the forces.

Ian was a mechanic in the Army and Nigel was a Royal Enginners carpenter.

Mary, who lives on Dairy Street in Chadderton, loves walking and cooking, and keeps herself busy doing crosswords.

She also has seven grandchildren, six great grandchildren, four neices, a nephew and numerous great neices and nephews.

Among the hundreds of other recipients receiving their first congratulatory messages are veterans of World War Two, Buckingham Palace has said.

The Palace suspended sending the cards after the Queen's death in September.

Cards were not able to be delivered during the official mourning period between September 9 and the late monarch's state funeral on September 19, as well as for some weeks following while new cards were being designed and printed.

The front of the cards features a picture of King Charles III and Camilla, Queen consort, taken in the summer of 2018.

The monarch sending messages to mark significant birthdays and anniversaries is a tradition dating back to 1917, when those celebrating their 100th birthday or 60th wedding anniversary were sent a telegram of good wishes from King George V.

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