At the beginning of the year we proudly announced that Sheila Fleet was going to be getting an addition to her name…Sheila Fleet OBE!

Sheila was included in the Queen’s New Year Honours List in recognition of her service to the jewellery industry; a nomination none of us – including Sheila – were aware of until a letter inviting Sheila to collect her award in London dropped through the workshop door.

Needless to say, we’ve been counting the days until the ceremony, which took place last week at Buckingham Palace.

Sheila, Rick (Sheila’s husband), Martin (Sheila’s son) and Mairi (Sheila’s daughter-in-law) attended the once-in-a-lifetime ceremony which was also attended by famous faces such as Olympian Mo Farah and actor Euan McGregor.

On the day, guests attending the ceremony were greeted at the gates of Buckingham Palace while the usual gaggle of tourists outside the country’s number one royal residence took photographs!

We were then escorted through the grounds which included walking under the iconic balcony where Kate and William shared their first public kiss as husband and wife.

The ceremony itself took place in the Palace’s Ball Room – which is normally used for entertaining the heads of state and visiting dignitaries.

This year, it was the turn of Prince Charles to award the Honours.

While being presented her award, Sheila and Charles chatted about Orkney; the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall visited the island a little over a year ago where they enjoyed a number of picturesque coastal walks.

Prince Charles also sent his best wishes to the Orkney Isles.

For the ceremony, Sheila wore a sapphire blue formal jacket and matching dress…Mairi also wore sapphire blue; a complete coincidence but one that made the Fleet party look very colour co-ordinated!

Sheila also wore a number of pieces from her personal jewellery collection including Atlantic Swell necklet with matching earrings and a ring that was adapted to house a 1ct diamond in celebration of the Honour.

After the ceremony, we hailed a cab outside the Palace and headed to the Houses of Parliament where we were met by James Stewart, Parliamentary researcher to Alistair Carmichael, Deputy Chief Whip to the Government and MP for Orkney & Shetland – who kindly showed us around the Parliament buildings and estate. We were very lucky to experience the Palace and the Parliament in one day.

Thank you also to everyone on Facebook who has left so many kind words of congratulations.

Sheila and the rest of the team are now back to work preparing for our ‘Meet the Designer’ event which is happening on the 20 – 28 July at Jenners at Lomond Shores.