Northern Ireland woman proud to be at King's Coronation ceremony... and meet Ant and Dec

​Claire Thompson, who is in her second year at Queen’s University studying Learning Disability Nursing, was in the English capital from Friday to Sunday with her husband Josh, though the invite to Westminster Abbey was just for Claire.

The 28-year-old from east Belfast, who has been using social media to raise the profile of Makaton – a language using symbols, signs and speech to enable people to communicate, said: "It was incredible, such an amazing experience.

"I was crying walking in, I just couldn’t believe I’d been gifted this.

"I was sitting in one part of the abbey, everything was happening in the next part, but they had TV screens up so we could watch. All of the royals walked past us.

"I couldn’t believe how close I was to King Charles, I couldn’t believe I was there. The lady who I was sitting next to, she pinched me as King Charles walked past to say ‘this is real’.

There were some sign language interpreters working in Westminster Abbey during the service but Claire wasn’t one of them. Instead she took up a pew behind two of her heroes.

"I was actually sitting right behind Ant and Dec. I was chatting to them for a good wee while afterwards,” she said. "I met Lional Ritchie as well outside.

"I was chatting to a lot of people finding out why they were there, why they had been invited – which was lovely.”

Claire described London as “crazy” over the weekend.

"There’s such a buzz around the place,” she said.

"After the ceremony I found my husband and we walked around for a bit.

"We went to see the Great British Bake Off musical, the night before we’d seen Hamilton. One of the stars of Hamilton has become my friend through my Makaton Monday, we met him.

"It’s been a whirlwind of a weekend.

She added: “I’ve two highlights. One is that I’m a part of history, I felt so honoured to have been invited.

“The other thing is meeting Ant and Dec. They are my absolute heroes.”