Fierce royalist, Meral Barton, is turning 101 next week and has marked the upcoming occasion by writing a letter to the newly proclaimed King Charles III.
The centenarian, who lives at Allity’s Montclaire home in Queensland, received a letter from the Queen last year, but this year is hoping to be one of the first recipients to receive correspondence from the new head of the English monarchy.
“We’ll wait and see – it will be a surprise,” she said.
“I really am one who genuinely loved the Queen and I do feel King Charles will carry on in much the same way his mother would want him to.
“We also sent King Charles a calendar featuring Australian animals and messages to help cheer him up.
“I absolutely adore royalty. In 1954 during Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Melbourne I watched my daughter perform a dance for her.”
When asked how she feels turning 101, Meral simply smiles.
“I am fighting fit,” she said. “I don’t like to feel anything but A+. I’m very well taken care of here and I have my own garden.”
“I am very happy, I love my home, I love nature, I adore flowers and butterflies. Yesterday I picked blue bells and daffodils because all the springs bulbs have come out and they’re beautifully perfumed.”
Meral is expecting a letter from the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese on her 101st birthday and plans to celebrate with her grandson and friends.
Her advice to others about living a good life is to “always do your best,” a philosophy which is evident in her own gesture of goodwill and which she carried through her career as a fifth generation nurse.
“They didn’t call us nurses, in my day they called us Florence Nightingales and there were five generations of them in my family,” she said.
“I always loved looking after people and I owned my own hospital in Brighton for nine years, Miranda Hospital, which looked after about 20 patients.
“Nurses are very, very important and will always be because they are the hands-on people who look after people who are not well.
“They will never ever be not important to the population no matter what country they’re in all over the world.”
Fittingly, Meral will celebrate her 101st birthday on September 21st – at the close of Nursing in the Community Week.
