Blind veterans pay tribute

Three blind female war veterans aged in their nineties have made a special birthday card with a poem written inside for the Queen’s 90th birthday.

Joyce Paice and Elizabeth Sharpe Nelson, both 95, made the card at the Brighton-based Blind Veterans UK training and rehabilitation centre, of which the Queen is a patron.

Inside the card, Marion Sharville, 94, of Worthing, West Sussex, penned a poem wishing the monarch best wishes on her special day.

All three women served their country in the Second World War. Ms Paice and Ms Sharville were in the Women’s Royal Air Force while Ms Sharpe-Nelson served in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.

Meanwhile, a major display of the Queen’s dress and accessories opens to the public today to mark her 90th birthday.

The exhibition – Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style from the Queen’s Wardrobe – will open at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, followed by shows at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle later in the year.

The first display will focus on significant events in the Queen’s life, her support of British craft and design and tartan in royal dress.

Among the dozens of outfits on display will be the one worn by the Queen for the wedding of her sister Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones in May 1960.

Another centrepiece of the show will be the outfit worn for the official opening of the Scottish Parliament on July 1 1999.

Pictures: PA. The Queen with the Duke of Edinburgh and their children at Balmoral in 1960, and, right, waving from the window of a steam train at Waverley Station in Edinburgh last year. Scotland has remained a special place for the Queen throughout her 90 years.

The Queen has long been a supporter of tartan in royal dress.