A blade-wielding Rainham man has been accosted by the Queen, after she found him in the grounds of Buckingham Palace.

Thankfully for Stuart Bourne, it was his job to be there and the Queen only wanted to ask about gardening.

The 42-year-old, from Tufton Road, Rainham, looked back on his time working as a gardener at Buckingham Palace in the build up to this week's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Dad-of-two Stuart recalled how at the start of 2012, he could hardly have imagined that within a few months he would be chatting with the Queen while working in her garden.

"I started just before the run up to the Diamond Jubilee," he recalled. "I had been working as a landscape gardener in Ashford and my wife, who was working in London, saw an advert in the Evening Standard, saying the Queen's looking for gardeners.

"She brought it home and said 'you could do that'. I wasn't sure but I applied and I was offered an interview. I had only been working as a gardener for about five years before that."

While Stuart wasn't sure, he decided to give it a go, and was surprised to get an interview.

"The interview was exciting but almost quite mundane in a way," he recalled. "I got invited up to Buckingham Palace and had to go through the security steps. Then I got taken down to the basement where the office is.

"You're just sat there in the basement. I had a good chat with the gardener – we must have clicked and he said I'll give you a quick tour of the garden.

"After a few weeks of thinking I might not have got it, I got a phone call and they said you can start."

And in the end it turned out the bosses at Buckingham Palace were of the same mindset as wife Joanne – he could do the the job.

"I was honoured to be appointed," he added. "They must have seen something in me and they appointed me as a senior gardener."

After a long security process involving countless forms, Stuart started in April that year.

"It was amazing working at that level of gardening," he said. "There was a lot of pressure but the location where we worked and the jobs we were doing was another level.

"It was such a great place to work, and amazing to work with so much history. You find yourself mowing around a tree that a king planted – there was one there planted by George V and another by Prince Charles. It was really exciting, and it's nice being part of that history."

On occasion the royal would come out and use the garden, which was an unnerving experience for new members of staff.

Stuart added: "It was a private garden for the royals so the Queen would come out and other members of the Royal family would be seen walking around.

"It's very nerve-racking the first time but after a while you learn to treat it as normal. You give them distance and let them use their garden.

"I just gave them space and got on with the job. They would come over to have a quick chat sometimes.

"The Queen was always very keen to know what was going on in the garden and was always keen to ask some questions."

Sadly, Stuart can't reveal specific interactions and anecdotes involving the royals, but he says the job was a bizarre mix of the ordinary and extraordinary.

"Day to day, we would start at 7.30am and finish at 4pm-4.30pm. That was all year round and all weathers doing stuff in the garden.

"In the summer it's mostly cutting grass and weeding and in winter it would be raking leaves.

"In some sense it's mundane because you're raking leaves but then you turn around and suddenly the president of Malaysia could walk past."

One of the standout memories of his time at the palace was for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012 – where special guests including charity workers and community volunteers were invited to the palace.

"For the Diamond Jubilee there was a concert outside and people who attended had a picnic beforehand. We gave them the full garden party treatment. I was stewarding and it was great – everyone had a great time.

"They had picnic baskets with a beer in it and they went off to the concert. It was so nice to come home and watch the concert and see everyone had a great time."

Having worked in the role for seven years, Stuart left to be at home and bring up the children back in Rainham, where he used his gardening knowledge as former chairman of the Friends of Rainham Rec group, and still gives gardening advice to Rainham Eco Hub and other residents.

Would he ever return once the children are grown up?

"I would dream of going back but I wouldn't like to think I was taking someone else's experience," he said. "If they came knocking I wouldn't say no.

"It was one of the highlights of my life, and the highlight of my career. It was great to be part of something that was larger than myself.

"It was fantastic experience and I learnt so much in terms of gardening.

"It was such a privilege. If anyone gets the chance to work there I would say definitely step up and do it."