I was a guest at a formal luncheon attended by the Queen yesterday. I’m no royalist – in fact I’m an out-and-out republican – but I went along as the guest of Ramona, who had been invited to the jubilee event in recognition of her achievements since moving to Manchester from Romania two-and-a-half years ago. It meant so much to her to be invited, a real boost to her confidence just when she needed it, and it was so nice to see.

She said: “This is the first time my mum has said she’s proud of me since I’ve moved to England. She has been telling everyone about it. Everyone has heard  of the Queen of England, so that I’ve been invited has really impressed them – it shows them that what I’m doing here is good and worthwhile. She told me that if I speak to the Queen, I should shake hands and say ‘I’m Ramona and I’m Roma’.”

She didn’t get to shake Brenda’s hand but that didn’t take the gloss off being there. Interestingly too, for me, she chose to shed the long skirts of a traditional Roma woman for one afternoon only, safe in the knowledge none of her community would be there to judge (covering is a mark of respectability).

She said: “For me it’s an adventure. I want to feel special, I didn’t want to be different to the others who were there. I want to socialise with people, I don’t want to have a long skirt and people to be asking about it. I want to be dressed properly to meet the Queen. I want to be Roma, but I also want to be English Roma.”