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Code-breaker Betty Webb invited to King's coronation

BBC Betty WebbBBC
Betty Webb, who worked a code-breaker at Bletchley Park during World War Two, will attend the King's coronation

A 99-year-old who worked as a wartime code-breaker has been invited to King Charles's coronation.

Charlotte "Betty" Webb, MBE, from Wythall, Worcestershire, said she had unexpectedly received an envelope in the post.

She said she had been waiting for a card for her upcoming 100th birthday when the invitation had arrived.

Mrs Webb became a national hero after working as a code-breaker at Bletchley Park during World War Two.

Betty Webb
Mrs Webb was awarded an MBE by the then Prince Charles in 2015

Stationed at the hub during the war, she was part of the team that helped crack the Enigma code, bringing the conflict to an early end.

Alongside an MBE, she has also been awarded the Légion d'Honneur, France's highest honour, for her secret wartime work.

Mrs Webb, originally from south Shropshire, remembers two previous coronations: King George VI's in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth II's in 1953.

But she said being invited to the coronation of King Charles on 6 May was something she was "tremendously proud" of.

"The extraordinary thing is, of course I was expecting a birthday card and my lovely postman came and did a special delivery - and I thought it was my birthday card," she told BBC Hereford & Worcester.

She described how she had opened the envelope to find an invitation from the Earl Marshal, requesting her presence at Westminster Abbey.

A National Geographic with Betty Webb on its cover
The wartime code-breaker has also previously featured on the cover of National Geographic magazine

"I suppose I was rather breathless," she said, explaining the invitation had been the "last thing" she had expected.

"I mean that is something else isn't it, I really wasn't expecting anything like that."

Mrs Webb previously met the king when he was Prince of Wales, when she received her MBE from him in 2015.

"He was very easy to talk with, because he knew one of my colleagues at Bletchley, that was a good talking point.

"I think he's a very good egg and I think he'll make sensible alterations, I mean, even with this reduced congregation, it shows an interest in not spending too much public money," she said.

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