Two special babies from vastly different backgrounds were born in 1926. While one, a princess, was destined to be our beloved Queen Elizabeth II, in contrast Rosa Edwards was born to a life of poverty, a poor pit miner’s daughter in Merthyr Tydfil, never imagining that fate would one day bring them together.

A set of stamps commemorates have been released in honour of what would have been our late Queen’s 100th birthday on 21 April, while my book, Secrets of the Royal Maid, marks the amazing life that Rosa, born on Christmas Day, had as a royal maid during WWII.

Fact, as they say, is stranger than fiction, as Rosa’s life showed.

*Image courtesy of Daily Mail.