GILL Robinson is getting used to rubbing shoulders with Royalty.

First it was the Countess of Wessex, when she visited Castle Hill School, in Huddersfield.

Now it’s an intimate lunch and long chat with the Duke of Edinburgh and 100 other guests.

Gill, who is head teacher at the Newsome school, was delighted to receive an invitation to a private lunch when the Queen and the Duke visited West Yorkshire this week.

But she was completely stunned to find herself sitting next to the Duke himself throughout the two-hour lunch.

She said: “I was looking for my name on the seating plan and never thought to look on the top tables. Then there it was, with the Duke number 1 and me at number 2.

“I felt so honoured and so proud of the school”.

Gill was invited to the lunch at Saltaire mills following a visit to Castle Hill School by the Countess of Wessex in March.

The Royal guest was joined by the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Dr Ingrid Roscoe, and she invited Gill and the school’s chair of governors Judith Waddington to the Saltaire lunch.

Gill said: “I was chosen to sit next to the Duke and it was such a thrill.

“He knew my name and we chatted about the school and its pupils. He was super, so chatty and entertaining.

“We talked about the things he enjoyed such as hunting and fishing and about Balmoral and Sandringham.

“He remarked on my vegetarian starter when it arrived and then when he saw my main course of mushroom risotto, he asked if it was porridge.

“It was certainly a day to remember and one which made me feel so proud of the school.”

Thousands of people gathered in West Yorkshire to welcome the Queen as part of her Diamond Jubilee tour of the UK.

Accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, the tour began at Leeds Arena before a visit to the renovated City Varieties.

The royal couple then took part in a walkabout at Briggate, where crowds of people had lined the street.

After Leeds, the royal couple went on to Saltaire near Bradford where they were guests of technology company Pace.