A Collier Row woman said she was “excited” when she received a royal invitation to attend the King’s coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

Claire Saunders, 42, was awarded a British Empire Medal in December 2021 for her campaigning for retail workers' safety.

She had been to a garden party at Buckingham Palace as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations last year and will now be rubbing shoulders with royalty again at the coronation ceremony.

She told the Recorder: “It’s quite exciting because you don’t expect as a normal person living in Collier Row to be invited for (the) coronation… you see on the news people being invited and not being invited, and it is so nice I think to get one."

Claire was working as a shop manager at a Co-op store in Gidea Park during the Covid pandemic when she witnessed a rise in the abuse her staff faced.

She saw co-workers being spat at, physically assaulted and racially abused.

Read More: New Year honour for Gidea Park Co-op store manager who lobbied parliament to protect colleagues

She became a rep for the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) to raise awareness and lobby for tougher sentences for abuse of shop workers.

She said in a 2021 interview with the Recorder: “All of a sudden I was doing live BBC Breakfast, talking to Keir Starmer – it was really daunting at first but because I’m so passionate about it, once I got into it, you couldn’t shut me up.”

The House of Lords passed an amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in December 2021 to toughen the sentences for the abusers of shop workers.

Claire said her family, especially her late father, are hardcore royalists - making the event even more special for her.

She said: “My dad would have been so proud that I am invited to this…for me it is a moment I am never going to experience in my lifetime ever, so I couldn’t be more excited.”

The ceremony is taking place on May 6, with a special bank holiday on May 8 as part of a weekend of celebrations.