What constitutes a special occasion when you are talking entirely about events involving The Queen? They are all special occasions in their own way, but this section is for special occasions in the life of Her Majesty, when I was able to see her, namely wedding anniversaries and the day on which she overtook Queen Victoria to become Britain's longest reigning Monarch.

To celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh there was a special gala performance at London's Royal Festival Hall, and somehow, I have no idea how, we managed to obtain 2 tickets for it. It was a black tie event, and the first time that we left our son at home with my parents, in order to go out for the evening, so it was memorable in more than one way. I love events where everyone is dressed up in their best evening wear, but this one was something special. Our seats were in the main body of the hall, with a full view of all the boxes, and it seemed that every one of them represented the royal family of a different country, with everyone sparkling and wearing gold in some form. The Queen's gown was a rich gold and she looked beautiful - although for me she sparkled more in Covent Garden on her 60th birthday! It was an amazing evening to be a part of and we enjoyed every magical moment, travelling home on the train still pinching ourselves that we had actually been inside for the concert not watching arrivals from outside!

On the day of the anniversary there was a thanksgiving service held in Westminster Abbey, where the royal couple had been married 50 years before, and this was followed by a walkabout to greet the public. This time my Mum, my son Zachary and I were waiting outside, and it was very special to be able to wish both The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh a Happy Anniversary in person. I handed The Queen an anniversary balloon with our flowers, and although she only kept hold of it for a moment it was long enough for the photographers. The following morning Her Majesty was on the front of almost every national newspaper, holding my balloon, and after footage of the moment also appeared during The Queen's speech on Christmas Day I definitely felt that we had been a part of this celebration and that it had been well documented!

For the Diamond Wedding Anniversary it was more of an effort to be a part of the day in person - but well worth it. It was announced some time beforehand that there would be a thanksgiving service the day before the anniversary, as The Queen and Duke would not be in the country on the day. Instead they would be stopping overnight in Malta, where they had lived as newlyweds, en route to the CHOGM in Uganda. This sounded like a good reason for a short holiday to me, and I was not really interested in a service that wasn't on the actual day. I wanted to wish The Queen a Happy Anniversary on her anniversary again, and if it meant a trip to Malta, then that was what we would have to arrange! So we did.

On the day nobody would say exactly what time anything was happening, which wasn't especially helpful, but we did establish where the couple were going when they arrived, and so we spent the entire day there waiting. I wasn't prepared to leave what I knew would be a good spot, because I knew that once it became public knowledge that they were coming it would be chaos. I had been to see The Queen in Malta before, and I knew how big the crowds could be. It was dark by the time the special visitors finally arrived in Valetta, and everything was ready. The path through the archway where they were going to walk was lined with lanterns, looking very romantic and inviting, and eminently suitable for an anniversary - it must have looked so lovely to them when they arrived. After attending a short reception and planting a tree to commemorate their visit the royal couple reappeared through the archway to huge cheers from the now enormous crowd. I am not sure where The Duke walked exactly, but The Queen came straight across to Zachary and me when she saw us, and we were able to give her a specially compiled photobook and to wish her a Happy Anniversary, while she joked about this being an educational trip for Zachary - I was very happy with the evening, and my lovely photos were a bonus. We had done what we had gone there for, and it had been amazing. The Queen was supposed to be getting into the car almost immediately, but instead the couple decided to carry on walking along the crowd, enjoying the atmosphere and the many greetings from both locals and tourists from all across the world. The car followed alongside slowly, and they eventually climbed in when they ran out of people, well beyond where we could see.

One of the most memorable days of all was 9th September 2015, when Queen Elizabeth II became our longest reigning Monarch, passing Queen Victoria's 63 years and 216 days - living just one day short of another 7 years afterwards she eventually reigned for 70 years and 214 days. I'm not sure that those numbers work exactly, but it won't really matter for a very long time yet. While The Queen was reluctant to celebrate this milestone date, which is understandable, because most of these achievements are really only about not having died yet, rather than doing anything specific. However she also understood that it was important to other people, and was undoubtedly an historic day, so she agreed to break into her summer holiday period for an official public engagement which would enable photographs to be taken for history. As she was in Scotland, so the engagement was too - in Tweedale in the Scottish Borders to be precise, where Her Majesty was to arrive on a new train service from Edinburgh. I travelled there the previous day with a friend, and we found ourselves what appeared to be a good position to see the dais where The Queen was to give a speech, and we waited. We waited a long time because everything was delayed due to fog at Balmoral, which prevented the helicopter from flying and involved a long drive instead! The delay though was the least of our problems. Shortly before Her Majesty and Prince Philip arrived so did a bus, full of local school children, who were directed to the area immediately in front of the barrier behind which we had been waiting for several hours, with no mention of children! While children themselves are not the issue in situations like this, the issues are still twofold. There are the flags that the children are always given and encouraged to wave, and then there are the teachers who are accompanying them, and who block the view! There was a lot of bitter complaining about this situation, which was still going on when The Queen arrived, and it was only because of the height of the raised dais that were able to see her at all. Speaking to her on the walkabout afterwards was impossible as we were too far back behind the children for her to reach us, but she was aware that we were there.

The pictures that I took all have ghosts of flags and bunting in the corners, but I decided later that I was still glad to have been there on such an historic day, and to call the images atmospheric!