A long-serving councillor for Beaconsfield says he was honoured to receive his MBE award from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace last week.

Alan Walters, who stepped down as leader of the town council earlier this month, said “it is still sinking in” and that he never expected to be given something like this.

Cllr Walters, who has been re-elected to South Bucks District Council, was officially awarded his MBE last week, but originally discovered in December.

He said: “When the letter dropped through the door in December I just couldn’t believe it, it took a little while to sink in.

“And then of course it just says if you accept it, you won’t hear anything until it comes out in the paper and then I heard nothing until I was invited to go to the palace to pick it up.

“We should have been going to Windsor Castle, but because it was Alice’s [his youngest daughter] Physics exam for A-Levels I phoned up the palace and asked if they could change it.”

He added: “We didn’t know who it would be before we got there and when we did get there we were told it would be Prince Charles.

“It’s still sinking in really. I never even thought about it, it’s something which happens once in a lifetime. I come from a Welsh background and never expected anything like this.”

The award was given to Cllr Walters for his service to the community.

For the past five years he has been involved in community charity Padstones, which provides housing for homeless young people, and was also the chairman of the successful fundraising committee behind the development of a new Girl Guides building.