A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER who spent her early years in China and danced with royalty has celebrated her 105th birthday with a party for family and friends.

Daphne Stevenson has four sons, ten grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren, with another on the way, and puts her longevity down to being “strongly competitive”.

Her family and fellow residents at Nightingale Hall Care Home, in Richmond, North Yorkshire, gathered yesterday to celebrate her latest milestone and her incredible life.

Born on January 4, 1906, Mrs Stevenson was the oldest of five children and moved to China at the age of four with her father, Albert, who was commander of a British naval station on the Shangtung peninsula.

After a brief return to England, Mrs Stevenson went back to China in 1917 and met her future husband, Shannan Stevenson, a junior officer in the Royal Navy.

During her time in China, Mrs Stevenson met Prince George, later the Duke of Kent, who taught her to dance the Charleston.

After being evacuated from Hankow during anti-British riots in 1927, Mr and Mrs Stevenson made their home in Hampshire, where he took a role in the family newspaper business.

Mr Stevenson was recalled to the Royal Navy during the Second World War, leaving Mrs Stevenson alone to bring up four small boys – Roland, James, John and Hue.

In later years, the family moved to Bolton-on-Swale, near Richmond, when Mr Stevenson took a position as managing director of Westminster Press, the previous owner of The Northern Echo and the Darlington and Stockton Times.

Mrs Stevenson has lived in Nightingale Hall since 2001 and, until recently, enjoyed gardening, watercolour painting, sewing and chess.

She has also started listening to Mandarin tapes to “brush up” on the language she spoke as a child.

Her eldest son, Roland, 79, thanked staff at the home for arranging the birthday party.

He said: “When you are 105, it’s difficult to keep your eyes open all the time, but the home has put on a most wonderful party and really made it a lovely afternoon for her.”

Mr Stevenson also paid tribute to his mother and said: “She is a gracious lady who has lived through memorable events in history, seen the British Empire at its zenith and witnessed two World Wars.”