A RIGHT ROYAL INVITATION

There are many privileges to being a royal correspondent, but I wanted to share how you, too, can enjoy behind-the-scenes access.

- By royal correspondent Emily Andrews

I had a lovely morning recently at the Royal Mews - the monarch's stables in Buckingham Palace.

The Mews is celebrating its 200th anniversary (it was built in 1825 for George IV) and is home to the historic coaches, carriages and some of the horses used by the Royal Family.

I took my 10-year-old daughter Sophia and we had a great time hearing about the spectacular Gold State Coach used for the King's coronation, and marvelling at the diamond and sapphire-encrusted handles of the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, sent all the way from Australia!

We met two of the King's horses (Conwy and Xeno) and also watched a coachman exercising one of the Cleveland Bays in the very smart riding school, where Queen Victoria watched her children learn to ride.