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Thursday, November 27, 2008, 18:42
A bouquet of flowers and a handwritten note from Prince Charles greeted a woman at a Bristol nursing home on her 90th birthday.
Stella Jack, who lives at Riversway in St George, received the special delivery because she was matron at Cheam School – which the prince attended when he was young.
The Duke of Edinburgh also attended the school in his childhood.
Stella, who turned 90 on Saturday, celebrated with a party surrounded by family and friends.
She worked at Cheam School, near Newbury, for 26 years from 1948.
Although Stella never married or had children, she was very close to her brother David Jack and spent every Christmas with his family in Keynsham.
Mr Jack, 85, from Keynsham, said: "She was just so overwhelmed to receive the flowers and especially the handwritten note.
"She is a great fan of the Royal Family and is very loyal.
"She was very honoured to have cared for him as a child and despite having worked at the school she would never divulge any stories.
"The only time she would talk about him is to say what a lovely young chap he was.
"She was very close to my daughters and when she came to stay at Christmas she would always take them out to the zoo and they would love to ask what it was like to look after a prince."
Stella grew up in Gloucester with her brother David and twin brother and sister Mary and Eric.
She went to school in Malvern and trained as a children's nurse in Brighton and then went to work at Cheam where she remained for 26 years before moving to Winchester.
She moved to Bristol to be closer to her brother and family.
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