SIXTY years ago today, people across the country huddled around a radio or if they were lucky, a television, to witness the wedding of the then Princess Elizabeth and Royal Navy Lieutenant, Philip Mountbatten.

The Royal wedding was a joyous but relatively simple affair as Britain was still recovering from the Second World War - and the Princess had to collect clothing coupons for her dress like thousands of other brides.

One of the people watching her walk down the aisle at Westminster Abbey was 19-year-old Ida "Elizabeth" Butler.

Ida had married her own prince, Leonard, earlier that same year and was captivated to see the princess, after whom she had been named, make her vows in front of the world.

Mrs Butler, now 79 and living in Kirtlington, said: "It is lovely to share our Diamond Wedding anniversary with the Queen.

"I still remember watching the Royal wedding all those years ago.

"My aunty had a television and all the family gathered around to watch.

"The princess was a couple of years older than me, but I felt a link to her because I had been named after her."

Whereas the royal Elizabeth married her cousin, Ida Elizabeth met her husband, now 86, in a pub in Kidlington.

Mr Butler explained: "It was 1946, I was in the RAF and had come home to Kidlington on leave.

"Ida was also in the airforce and was based at Kidlington.

"I went to the pub with two mates and Ida was in there with some of her friends.

"She was small and blonde with blue eyes.

"We got talking, all being service people, and I walked her back to the camp like any gentleman would do.

"That was really our first date.

"We were engaged for six months before getting married the following year at a church in Ida's home village near Chesterfield."

Whereas Princess Elizabeth saved coupons for her wedding dress, Ida Elizabeth borrowed her wedding dress from a friend.

She said: "It was white and lovely with a long train and yards of net.

"Leonard and I married in church and had our reception in the church hall.

"Afterwards we went home to change and when we came back we found our guests had drunk one pub dry of beer and moved on to another - there was a beer shortage in those days too."

Post-war rationing also meant shortages of food and most of the ingredients that went into making the impressive four-tier Royal cake were given as a wedding gift by Australian Girl Guides.

The Butlers' also relied on friends' generosity for their wedding cakes.

Mrs Butler explained: "We had two wedding cakes, one from the Co-op and another one made by Godmother who had saved up all her rationed fruit.

"One of my aunties worked in a bakery, so we had cream in our cakes too, which was almost unheard of at that time."

Mr and Mrs Butler celebrated their own diamond wedding anniversary this summer with a family party at Kirtlington Village Hall.

The event was attended by all their friends and family, including their four children, ten grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

And tonightthey are one of a host of couples expected at a special diamond anniversary service for the Queen, at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford.

All couples who married in 1947 have been invited to attend the event by the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard.

Mrs Butler said: "It's lovely to share our diamond year with the Queen and we are looking forward to meeting lots of other couples who do."

  • Denis Riches was born on the same day as Queen Elizabeth and went on to marry the same year as her too. Mr Riches, 81, of Banbury Road, Oxford, said: "Because I was born on the same day - April 21, 1926 - I always felt something in common with the Queen and it was lovely to have the National Anthem played every year on my birthday.

"My wife Valerie and I married on June 21, 1947, in London, and when the Queen married that same year we felt very privileged.

"I met my wife at the opera.

"I turned to see a very attractive lady sitting beside me and mistook her brother for her boyfriend. When he went to get a drink later we started talking and that was how it all began.

"My wife hired her wedding dress because we didn't have enough coupons and lace was sewed on to it to make it even more special. Valerie's mother had been widowed in the war and lost her house in the bombing, so we paid for our own wedding reception at a hotel."

Attending the diamond anniversary service is the latest in a series of celebrations for the Riches.

During the Queen's - and Mr Riches' - 80th year in 2006, the couple had tea with the Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim Palace, went to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party and also attended a birthday service at Christ Church.

Mr Riches added: "We celebrated our diamond wedding anniversary in June with a big party with our close friends and our two children and six grandchildren.

"Attending the diamond anniversary service for the Queen will be an added treat."