A 98-year-old Isle of Man woman who shook hands with King Charles III during his historic visit said she thought the monarch ‘looked very tired’ after a packed afternoon of engagements.

Margery Fargher, who lives at Castle View Nursing Home in Peel, was among a group of residents taken to Douglas to see the King during his visit on Tuesday, July 14.

King Charles III made his first official visit to the island as monarch and Lord of Mann, with a programme that included addressing a special sitting of Tynwald, meeting members of the public during a walkabout on Bucks Road, taking a ride on the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway to mark its 150th anniversary and visiting the Heroes on the Water charity at Port Soderick.

Mrs Fargher, who will celebrate her 99th birthday in December, was waiting by the railings near the horse tram when the King greeted well-wishers.

Recalling the moment, she said: 'He came down and shook hands. He didn't speak, but he shook hands.

'I thought he looked very tired. I think he'd been to the Keys even before coming to us.

'But I tell you what, the horse with all his regalia on, standing there waiting to do his duty, I thought he was marvellous. And of course, the double-decker tram looked lovely.'

It was not Mrs Fargher's first royal encounter.

In 2011, she met the late Queen Elizabeth II after travelling to Westminster Abbey to collect her Maundy money (specially minted, sterling silver coins ceremonially distributed by the British monarch on Maundy Thursday) in recognition of her services to the island.

'I wished her a happy birthday because it was her birthday,' she said.

'She said, "Thank you very much." When I got back, I wrote to the Palace thanking her and I received a letter back saying the Queen was so pleased I had enjoyed my day in Westminster.'

Born and raised in Greeba (and still claiming that Greeba Hill is hers!), Mrs Fargher has spent almost her entire life in the Isle of Man and says the biggest changes she has witnessed over the decades are not buildings or roads, but people's behaviour.

'Everybody goes around with one of these things in their hands,' she laughed, referring to mobile phones.

'My grandchildren said, "Grandma, you haven't got a mobile phone." I said, "No, and don't you buy me one either. I don't want one."

'I think they're very unsociable. You'd see children coming out of school and they never looked up because they were looking at their phones. You had to dodge them because they didn't see you.

'Even on the bus, people don't speak. They're all on their phones.'

Mrs Fargher, whose husband was tragically killed in the 1957 Winter Hill air disaster just months before their son was born, said she now enjoys life at Castle View Nursing Home.

'I think it's wonderful and the staff are absolutely wonderful,' she said. 'I've no complaints whatsoever.'

Asked the secret to reaching almost 99, Mrs Fargher smiled and pointed to her country upbringing.

'Just plain living,' she said. 'Everything was home-grown. We had our own hens, my father grew all the vegetables and we were brought up on goat's milk.

'I think goat's milk has a lot to do with it.'

Looking ahead to her milestone 100th birthday next year, Mrs Fargher hopes she might receive another royal keepsake.

'If I live to be 100, I might get a card from the King,' she said.

'I live one day at a time. That's the way to live.'