A CHARITY worker left her home in an Indian city slums to keep a date with the Queen yesterday.

Leah Pattison mixed with some of the world's most glamorous women at a historic first all-female reception at Buckingham Palace.

From writers and academics to singers and sports stars, the 180 guests were all there to celebrate the achievements of women.

Leah, from Frosterley, County Durham, has spent eight years rebuilding the lives of female leprosy victims in a central Indian city, where she is known as the Angel of Nagpur.

She hopes her invitation to the lunch, where she mingled with high-flyers, from former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher to Harry Potter author JK Rowling, will highlight the fight against the disease.

"It's terrifying because I feel like a fish out of water," she said at the event.

"I just came back from India last week and this is such a different environment. It's a great privilege."

Leah lined up to meet the Queen alongside celebrities including Dame Shirley Bassey, teenage singer Charlotte Church, Tony Blair's wife Cherie Booth, supermodel Kate Moss and anti-landmine campaigner Lady Helen Mills McCartney.

The Princess Royal, the Duchess of Gloucester and the Countess of Wessex were also at the lunch, which followed International Women's Day, on Monday.

Earlier, the Queen and the Princess Royal had followed the female theme by visiting a building site to meet women training as carpenters and plumbers.