Young Liam Dicker was thrilled when he was asked to go to Buckingham Palace to see his grandmother, Bridget Jones, being made an MBE.

The day got even better for the 12-year-old, from Walderslade, when he met world motor racing champion Lewis Hamilton, who was also being made an MBE.

Liam was starstruck at meeting the F1 champion, although Bridget at first didn’t realise that the polite young man she had been chatting to was a world famous sportsman.

Lewis, who began his driving career karting at Buckmore Park, in Chatham, was happy to chat to the family and have photographs taken.

Bridget has campaigned for the past seven years for two charities, Gypsy Support Group and ITM (Irish Traveller Movement), in Kent.

She lives in Norman Road, Canterbury, and was born within the travelling community in Ireland, but moved to England when she was a little girl.

She works all over Medway and Kent, campaigning for travellers, gipsies and other minority groups.

Bridget was stunned when she first received the letter informing her she was going to be awarded the title and thought the postman had delivered the letter to the wrong address.

On Tuesday, she took Liam and his mum Kellyanne to the capital so they could proudly watch her receiving her award, and the trio were delighted to bump into Lewis.

Bridget said: “As I was waiting to be given my award by the Queen, I started talking to a nice, polite young man who was asking me why I was being given my award.

“We chatted for ages about this and that and it was not until after I got my award and went back to my family that Liam told me who he was, I had no idea.

“Liam was thrilled to meet him and he spent a lot of time talking to him, he was brilliant.”

Kellyanne, from Farm Road, Chatham, said: “Needless to say, we had a fantastic day watching mum get her award, we are really proud of her.

“And Lewis was very kind and was more than happy to have his picture taken with us and sign an autograph for a very happy Liam.”