A PENSIONER who was taught to dance the Charleston by a prince celebrated her 100th birthday yesterday.

More than 50 friends and family joined centenarian Daphne Stevenson at the Nightingale Hall Nursing Home, in Richmond.

Mrs Stevenson was born in Southsea, Hampshire, in 1906.

When she was four, she sailed to China when her father, Albert House, became commander of the British naval base at Wei-Hai-Wei.

After ten years, she returned to England to attend school in Croydon, only to return to China when she was 17.

Mrs Stevenson, who puts her longevity down to "plenty of fresh air and being happy", says some of her fondest memories are of the time in China when she would attend tea dances and learnt to ride.

It was at one of the tea dances that she met her husband, Shannan, a junior naval lieutenant.

Mr Stevenson was friends with Prince George, the fourth son of King George V, who taught Mrs Stevenson to dance the Charleston on HMS Hawkins, after it had run aground in the harbour at Wei-Hai-Wei.

After the war, the Stevensons returned to England where Mr Stevenson joined the family firm, Northern Press, which then owned The Northern Echo. He later become managing director and director of parent company Westminster Press.

The couple lived in Darlington, Scotland and Oxford, before settling in Bolton-on-Swale, near Richmond, where they lived for more than 40 years.

They had four sons, Ronald, James, John and Hew.

The couple moved into Nightingale Hall, in Richmond, on their 72nd wedding anniversary.

Mr Stevenson died in 2002, aged 99.

The Queen sent a card to Mrs Stevenson before Christmas to avoid it being delayed in the post.