They were born just half an hour apart but Joan and Elizabeth lived very different lives.

One became a King and the other the Queen but this week both will raise a glass, along with the rest of the country, as they reach 90.

Joan King, who lives in Necton, was the fourth of eight children who grew up in a two-bed house in Dover, Kent, which was a little more cramped than Buckingham Palace.

She said: 'I was born on the same day with half an hour difference. I don't know which way but my mother always told me there was half an hour difference.

'When I was young I used to think they fired the guns [in a 21 gun salute] for me. My mother used to say that they would be firing the guns for my birthday so I should listen out and at that age you believe those things.'

During the war Mrs King and her siblings were evacuated to Monmouthshire, Wales, to avoid the bombs falling on the south of England.

Meanwhile the then Princess Elizabeth left Buckingham Palace for Windsor Castle, along with her sister Princess Margaret.

Ten years ago Mrs King celebrated her birthday with the Queen at Buckingham Palace after being invited to a party there.

She spoke with the monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh who asked her where she was from.

She said: 'Buckingham Palace was very nice, it was quite exciting actually.

'A lot of people will never go to something like it.

'Prince Phillip spoke to me and he asked where I was from and they said they visited Norfolk a lot and knew Swaffham was the place with the turbine.

'She couldn't get round everyone there but I was a bit slow leaving the room and she came up behind me and talked to me.

'I used to get lots of letters from Buckingham Palace before my 80th birthday. When my postman saw the letters were from Buckingham Palace he would knock on the door and bow when he gave them to me.'

This time round Mrs King will be marking the occasion in Necton with her friends and family.

She said: 'I'll have to raise a glass to the Queen.

'I hope she has a good day, I'm sure she will and I intend to.'

Mrs King and her late husband Bill moved to Norfolk around 30 years ago after he retired.

They had four sons Peter, Colin, Kenneth and Phillip.

Do you know someone who shares the same birthday as the Queen? Write to chris.bishop@archant.co.uk