GRACE COX has just celebrated her 105th birthday - twice.

Family and friends joined Grace for a birthday tea party to mark her 105th birthday. But Grace, like the Queen who sent her a telegram, is one of very few people to have two birthdays every year.

Grace, said: "I was born just before midnight on February 14 and the doctor said to my dad that I was just in time to be his Valentine."

However, because of initial confusion with the registration of her birth, and because a cousin already celebrated a birthday on the 14th, Grace has spent the past 105 years counting both days as her birthday.

She added: "For anything official my birthday is February 14, but for my family it has always been celebrated on February 15."

Grace now lives at the Abbeyfield residential care home, in Friars Mead, Kings Langley, but was born and raised in the village of Earlsfield, near Clapham Junction, in south London in 1902.

She married her husband, Eric, in 1929 before moving to nearby Mitcham Green where Grace worked in the civil service and Eric managed "a very high class" gentleman's' outfitters.

When Eric retired in 1965 the couple bought a bungalow in Exmouth, Devon, and spent their time growing fruit and vegetables on their allotment.

After 68 years of happy marriage, Eric died in 1997 and Grace moved to Hemel Hempstead to be closer to her daughter, Sheila, five grandchildren and ten great grandchildren.

Grace then moved to the Abbeyfield care home in Kings Langley in 2000, where staff now refer to the 105-year-old as "amazing Grace" and she spends much of her time beating other residents at Scrabble.

However, Grace says she struggles to get her head round today's society and says she is constantly amazed how much money is spent these days.

She said: "It is a different world today than the one I was brought up in.

"When I look at it and think, all that money - it is a money world now, there is too much money in the world today.

"We never had as much and I think we were happier in those days."

Grace received a telegram from the Queen five years ago when she celebrated her 100th birthday and her second telegram arrived in the post on Wednesday morning.

Grace said she was "thrilled" with it, adding: "It is a very nice photo of her too, because sometimes she can look very grim, can't she?"

And what is Grace's secret of long-life?

"I've always been satisfied with what I've had and I've never been envious of any other people," she said.

"I've always been happy with my lot - I had a lovely husband and a lovely daughter and I was very lucky.

"And I've always enjoyed good health too."