AS the nation mourns the Queen, a Stourbridge-based photographer has told how he captured exclusive film footage of the monarch's visit to the West Midlands 60 years ago when he was just 16.

David Williams, now aged 75, has happy memories of how as a teenager he managed to sneak his own movie camera past security to record Her Majesty’s tour of Wolverhampton in 1962.

The ability to capture moving images of a big event was a rare thing mainly granted to a few top professionals back then - unlike in today's world of mobile phones.

At the time David was a trainee at the Wolverhampton camera company Warner and Sons where his duties included sweeping the floor and making the tea.

But when the Queen came to town to present colours to the Staffordshire Yeomanry and North and South Staffs Regiments at Molineux, as well as visiting schools, he was given the task of carrying the heavy reels of 16mm film for the top cameramen employed by his company to record the event for Wolverhampton Council.

Although dreaming of becoming a professional photographer, he was considered too inexperienced to handle a camera for such an occasion.

A crowd had already gathered when he arrived at the Civic Hall. Despite having no ID he managed to push his way to the front explaining his job as a runner to a policeman. The officer never looked in his case, but inside it David had smuggled his own 8mm camera.

Recalling his big moment, David said: “When the Queen arrived I had my first experience of a press scrum with everyone jostling for the best position.

"During the lunch I was ordered keep well out of the way and told where to stand, which turned out to be a prime position for filming when Her Majesty appeared at the door of the Civic Hall accompanied by the Mayor.

“The film which I shot now belongs to the Media Archive of Central England, who provided me with a digital copy, giving me a lasting reminder of a special day.

“As a young boy coming from a working class family I felt honoured and very lucky to have been so close to the Queen.”

David achieved his ambition of becoming a press photographer, working for numerous local newspapers and then in industry, publicity and marketing, before setting up his own photographic business.

He collected numerous awards on the way, including the BIPP National Wedding Photography Award 1983.

Now retired, he combines his hobby of YouTube video production with a passion shared with the late Duke of Edinburgh for cooking on the barbecue and he has his own channel - The Barbecue Walk of Flame.