Mrs Cregan, the Glen Innes Severn 2014 Senior of the Year, was on hand on Good Friday to greet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their royal tour at the show.

But she wasn’t the only northerner to boast a royal audience, with three Walcha show supports – Mick Sweeney, Diana Lisle and Robert Thomson – also getting in on the act.

Will and Kate spent some time viewing the district exhibits.

Mrs Cregan filled in Prince William with details of the beer can trophy, which the northern districts exhibit won back this year with its wool display. The Walcha trio were among five people from the central district exhibit picked to meet the royal couple.

The five exhibitors – northern district, southern district, western district, south-east Queensland and central district – were told two days prior they could each choose five people from their exhibiting staff to stand in front of the display to be introduced.

Diana said she was surprised when she found out the day before that she was meeting royalty.

“When I left Walcha, some of my friends were joking and saying ‘say hello to Kate for me’,” she said.

“But when I arrived on Thursday afternoon and was told we were meeting them I was stunned. I must admit I had a bad case of sweaty palms beforehand and it has been a while since that has happened.”

Diana said the Duchess was very interested in the preserves and when she saw the sweet potato she commented that Prince George was fond of sweet potatoes.

“She was also very interested when she saw Prince Charles’s name on our display, as he is the wool patron and that was the theme of the display,” Diana said.

She described Kate as “absolutely exquisite”.

“They are both very engaging and easy to be around once the formalities have finished, but the security surrounding them is unbelievable,” she said.