The mainly women joined her in the lounge at Drakes Lodge on Plymouth Road in largely sombre silence sipping tea as they immersed themselves in the whole ceremonial events through the television coverage.
Joyce has always been a royal enthusiast and was aware of coming from the same generation of the Queen.
Born on August 1 in1926 in Birkenhead to a painter and decorator, she might have come from a background a world apart from the head of state, but felt an affinity with her: ‘I’m a great fan of the Queen and the monarchy. The Queen was a lovely lady and believed strongly in duty and serving her country. She was an inspiration to me, especially as she became our Queen at such an early age with such remarkable ease and maturity - at least it seemed like that. She also stayed in London during the war.
‘She had a close affiliation with the military, as did I, like so many women of my age. My sisters Millie and Elsie, both older than me were married to soldiers, the Royal Engineers and a Scots regiment and served in the Second World War.
‘I was very sad when the Queen died, it was a bit like a member of my own family dying, of course she out-lived most of my family, just as I have. She was a familiar link with my past and present life, which very comforting. It’s still hard to believe she’s gone.’
Joyce became a typist for the London and Lancashire insurance company for 12 years, aged of 15 to 27 after her family moved to Bebington on the Wirral, Liverpool: ‘That was a very important part of my life. I loved working because of the people I worked with, we even created a drama company.’
Her job also brought her romance because that is where she met her future husband ‘Clarke Gable look-a-like’ Leonard Killey who worked for the same company: ‘He was tall and handsome and I fell in love. We walked a lot together and had afternoon tea together as well as socialising.’
Her first connection with the Queen was when the whole family watched the 1953 coronation on the one of the first televisions to be marketed: ‘My dad bought the TV so we could watch the coronation. It was a beautiful occasion for a marvellous person.’
Joyce said she was proud that the Queen’s long-term dresser Angela Kelly came from Liverpool like her: ‘Her dad was a docker and proved someone from lowly origins could make it to the highest. That’s also credit to the Queen.’
Joyce first saw the Queen in Sussex purely by chance when her and Leonard lived there: ‘I don’t even remember why she was there, but it was an exciting moment and she was so tiny.’ Joyce survived two heart attacks aged 70 and 81: ‘I thought my time had come. But I’m still here with my new family for the past six years.’