When 2022 dawned, we had a Prime Minister who had been in post for three years and a head of state who was approaching her 70th year on the throne.

Things had been bumpy, certainly, in both Downing Street and the House of Windsor, but no-one could have expected quite how the year would develop.

In the first weekend of June, the county found itself decked out in red, white and blue. Given an extra bank holiday (and the late May one bumped on a week) it meant we had a four-day weekend to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

It was, regardless of your views on the monarchy, a remarkable achievement. Seventy years on the throne deserves a bit of a knees-up and Kent - along with the rest of the nation - got into the spirit of things with a host of special events.

Many also headed up to London to enjoy the pomp and ceremony of fly-pasts, a bit of regal waving from the balcony and the sight of dozens of celebrities atop double-decker buses. It was, if nothing else, very British.

The Queen, looking rather frail, made a couple of appearances at Buckingham Palace to book-end the weekend, while street parties were held in towns and villages to raise a glass in her honour.

But, as guests arrived for a special service at St Paul's Cathedral, Prime Minister Boris Johnson found himself being jeered.

A month later, amid mounting pressure from a host of controversies, he resigned - something which North Thanet MP Conservative Sir Roger Gale was somewhat relieved about. He'd described the PM as having "an eccentric relationship with the truth" and been an outspoken critic.

We hardly need reminding of what happened next.

After a lengthy leadership campaign Liz Truss was elected Prime Minister. Yet just two days after she was pictured with the Queen, the nation was plunged into mourning.

Queen Elizabeth II's death was perhaps not a surprise - she was 96 - but the loss of such a constant in all of our lives left the nation shell-shocked.

Thousands of people from Kent headed back to the capital to either queue to see her lying in state or watch her state funeral.

No sooner had King Charles III taken over office and life returned to normal, Liz Truss did her level best to crash the UK economy and, after a mere 44 days announced she was stepping down too.

Enter Rishi Sunak, looking to steady a Tory ship which continues to limp towards an election in 2025 while his party remain comfortably behind Labour in the polls.

Politics has always been lively - but it's fair to say the last few years have delivered more drama than anyone could possibly have predicted.

One of the most disturbing crimes of 2021 had been the killing of PCSO Julia James, 53, while she walked her dog in woodland near her home in Snowdown, between Dover and Canterbury.

Callum Wheeler, 22, appeared at Canterbury Crown Court in May accused of her murder. He denied the charge, but it took the jury a little over an hour to reach their guilty verdict.

Wheeler, described by his victim's family as a "sick and twisted individual", refused to stand as the verdict was delivered - having to be dragged to his feet by guards.

Sentencing was deferred until July where he received a life sentence and told he would serve a minimum term of 37 years behind bars.

However, the family's agony was not over.

Just a week after sentencing, it emerged that Julia's husband, Paul James, had been the victim of con artists who had gained access to his bank account and drained the money Julia had left for him.

Justice was also served, earlier this month, for the double killings of Alexandra Morgan, 34, from Sissinghurst and Hasting's Leah Ware, 33. Both were killed in 2021.

Mark Brown, 41, from St Leonards in East Sussex, was found guilty and will serve life behind bars.

A court in Hove heard how mother-of-two Ms Morgan had been burnt in a makeshift incinerator. He had lured her to his yard by promising a six-figure sum for webcam sex work. He also had an on-off relationship with Ms Ware, including time they shared while he worked as a security guard in Ashford. Her body has never been found.

In April, Canterbury was rocked by a savage murder-suicide at a popular tattoo parlour.

Mum-of-one Ramona Stoia was killed at the GothInk Studio by her husband Catalin Micu, who then took his own life. Floral tributes were left in the wake of the tragedy. The shop has since been renovated and put on the market.

Meanwhile, one of the county's most notorious murder cases took yet more twists and turns this year.

The 1996 attack which left mother and daughter Lin and Megan Russell dead and six-year-old Megan's sister Josie, nine, fighting for her life in Chillenden, near Canterbury. has long been the subject of debate.

Gillingham's Michael Stone has stood trial twice for the murders and been convicted on both occasions - albeit with no forensic evidence to link him to the scene. Stone has always said he was innocent.

But in February, convicted killer Levi Bellfield apparently confessed to the crimes - a confession he subsequently retracted.

It has not deterred Stone's legal team however, who remain confident the case should get another hearing in the Court of Appeal. Stone was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years when convicted - which means he could be released as early as next year. However, that is unlikely if he continues to plead his innocence - or the verdict is finally overtuned.

Another case dating back many years also came to a dramatic conclusion this year - with one of the key mysteries finally solved.

Debbie Griggs, a 34-year-old mother-of-three, went missing from her home in Deal in 1999. Pregnant at the time, she was never seen again.

Despite always denying any involvement in her disappearance, in 2019 her husband, Andrew Griggs, who had moved to Dorset with his sons two years after she was last seen, was finally charged with her murder.

Later that year he appeared in court - proclaimed his innocence - but was found guilty, despite her body never having been found. Debbie's desperate relatives appealed to him to reveal where her remains were; the judge supposing the fisherman had dumped her body at sea.

But in a shock twist, in October police revealed they had found her remains buried in the garden of the Dorset home Griggs had moved to after leaving Kent.

Finally, on November 25, in Barham, near Canterbury, she was laid to rest.

One family is still coming to terms with their grief after a tragic accident while they were on holiday in Greece.

Jack Fenton, 22, from Staplehurst, had just landed in a helicopter in Athens in July, after he and his friends had been holidaying in Mykonos when he was struck by one of its blades, killing him instantly.

His devastated family are still waiting on a probe into just how the accident occurred and if the Greek operators are to be prosecuted.

Those who like to take a dip in the sea around Kent's coast have certainly had something of a mixed year.

First there were concerns over pollution in the waters close to Whitstable in March. Following releases by Southern Water, high levels of bacteria were found at Swalecliffe.

As the summer arrived, the situation was repeated elsewhere. In neighbouring Tankerton a leak from a sewage treatment works prompted warnings for swimmers, while nine beaches along out north coast and south east coast urged swimmers not to enter the water after sewage was released following storms. It stretched from Leysdown and Sheerness on Sheppey to Herne Bay, Whitstable to Folkestone, Hythe and Dymchurch. One month later, in September, a similar warning was in place in Thanet.

It did the county's tourism reputation no favours and prompted an angry backlash against the water companies responsible.

There were other things to dodge off the coast of Folkestone during August when a shark was spotted. It prompted red flags and swimmers told not to enter the water for 24 hours.

Rather than a climate-change induced Great White, it was thought to have been a basking shark - large but no threat to humans.

Talking of sightings, there were a string of famous faces paying the county a visit as Kent's reputation as a movie location continued.

The final series of Killing Eve heavily featured Margate, when it aired in February, while Tom Cruise helicoptered into Chatham in October to film at the Historic Dockyard. A week after that, Jason Statham was spotted shooting scenes for movie The Beekeeper on the Kingsferry Bridge linking Sheppey to Sittingbourne.

Other filming saw an unnamed period drama shoot at Dover Castle, and a team for Netflix drama Treason filming in Maidstone.

But the biggest production was, without a doubt, that for director Sam Mendes' new film Empire of Light.

For three months, film crews erected sets on Margate seafront featuring the facade of a cinema in the 1980s, closed roads for various shoots, and even decked the sea road with illuminations.

The film, starring Olivia Coleman, ploughed some £4m into the Thanet local economy and, despite some complaints over the road closures, was warmly welcomed by residents.

Filming also took place at nearby Manston Airport - where vast sets were created.

The movie itself has come in for some pretty mixed reviews from early screenings, but we will all get to make our own mind up when it opens everywhere on January 13.

Let's hope 2023 has plenty more things to look forward to.