Royal watcher Julia McCarthy-Fox wasn't going to let a set of locked iron gates stop her from wishing Her Majesty a happy Christmas.

Mrs McCarthy-Fox, 38, from Horsham, has chased the Queen more than 14,000 miles on her Golden Jubilee tour across Britain.

She and her son Zachary, were among a crowd of 50 well-wishers locked out of St Mary's Church, on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, when the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh broke with tradition by arriving via a back entrance.

Normally members of the public are allowed to walk down a path to watch the Queen and other royals arrive.

But yesterday the iron gates remained firmly shut and the gathering had to stand on the side of the road to watch the Queen and Duke arrive in their Rolls-Royce.

Several visitors had brought flowers for the Queen and were concerned that they would not be able to present them.

But as the royal car left the church, the Queen saw how many people were carrying bouquets and ordered her driver to stop.

She then invited well-wishers to hand the bouquets through the window.

Mrs McCarthy-Fox and Zachary were first in line.

She said: "We have travelled the length and breadth of the country this year to see the Queen on her jubilee tour. Normally my mother Jean has been with us and Zachary has presented flowers to the Queen 26 times this year.

"The flowers normally come from my mother's garden and the Queen recognises Zachary now.

"When we handed the flowers to her today she asked him whether these were from my mother's garden too.

"I was a little concerned that we wouldn't be able to hand over the flowers when she drove into the back.

"It would have been very disappointing because this is the end of a special year for us and we wanted to finish it off at Sandringham.

"But I had a feeling that she wouldn't want to disappoint people when she came out and I thought she would stop. I'm just so glad she did. It was lovely."

Members of the Royal Family are due to gather over the next couple of days to celebrate Christmas at Sandringham.