THOSE who have grown up alongside the Queen and shared a special birthday bond will come together in Oxford today. A service of Thanksgiving is being held at Oxford’s Christ Church Cathedral for people who were born in 1926 – the same year as Her Majesty. An afternoon tea will follow in the Oxford Town Hall hosted by the Lord Mayor Mohammed Altaf-Khan. Naomi Herring meets three of the guests.

Marie Ollive

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At "89 and a half" years old, Mrs Ollive has shared many close memories with the Queen not only sharing the same birth year but as an avid royalist.

Mrs Ollive was born in Gibraltar so has always followed the Queen very closely and even describes childhood memories of the family waiting to have their Christmas dinner after Her Majesty's speech each year.

The Bicester resident had a close encounter with The Queen both during her visit to the evacuation centre in London where she was with her sister who managed to speak to the royal and also watched the Queen in 1945 wave to her many fans from the balcony at Buckingham Palace with the likes of Winston Churchill.

The great-grandmother to five said: "That was a very memorable day.

"I have always been a very close follower of the Queen not just because of our age but being born in Gibraltar we were very much royalists.

"We moved to London in 1940 my mum, dad, four sisters and brother because of the bombing and we were very lucky actually.

"We did come back but my partner Ron was in the forces so I have done a bit of travelling such as Cyprus, but now Bicester is my residing place since 1970."

Mrs Ollive will join those celebrating the Queen's 90th birthday on Saturday.

She said: "I am very excited and very honoured to have been chosen to go. It will be a wonderful service of thanks giving for The Queen which is very well deserved."

Margaret Fryer

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A former teacher at Pegasus Primary School in Blackbird Leys is looking forward to not being the oldest person in the room for Her Majesty's celebrations on Saturday.

Margaret Fryer spent 18 years teaching at the primary school and prior to that devoted her life to looking after her two sons, daughter and now six grandchildren and five great grand children.

The 89-year-old said: "I am not a royalist but I am really interested in the Queen especially being the same generation and it will be nice to meet people of the same generation at the service.

"I am normally always the oldest person wherever I go.

"I remember as a child saying we [Mrs Fryer and the Queen] were the two princess."

Sharing a birthday close to the Queen's, Mrs Fryer has big plans for her 90th in September including a trip away with the family to Milton Hill House.

The mother-of three has been settled with her family in Cowley - including partner Bobby Fryer who passed away 21 years ago - for 65 years, she said: "I used to have the view that mums should be at home when their children came home but at 42-years-old I decided to do training and became a teacher in Blackbird Leys.

"I taught at Pegasus Primary as it is now called for 18 years."

Mary Elliott

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BEING the same age as the Queen has been a great tool for one former headteacher if ever asked her age.

The answer has often been "I am as old as the Queen" for Mary Elliott which was a great way of getting her pupils to research the royal figure.

Mrs Elliott became a headteacher after the war and said she started teaching at a hectic time when secondary schools were being set up for everybody.

The 89-year-old said: "I became a headteacher after the war and there were not enough teachers and the birth rate was massive so there was just no room for children.

"I had one class of 46 little 8-year-old boys.

"It is a strange one being the same age as the Queen, I remember one day at school a little girl came over to me and asked how old I was.

"So I said I am as old as the Queen and told her she was going to have to go and find out.

"I do often tell people I am as old as the Queen, but it was always nice that I was also born on my dad's birthday as well."

Mrs Elliott said she has alway followed Her Majesty and remembers the moment vividly watching The Queen step off the plane from Africa after her dad had died.

She said: "She left a princess and came back the Queen".

The mother of two and grandmother of four is looking forward to surprise celebrations with the family for her 90th birthday and said Saturday's service should "really lovely with so many 90-year-olds coming along".