The family of a Cumbrian soldier who was shot while serving with the army in Northern Ireland were special guests at a Royal garden party organised by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Dylan Green, 16, and mum Carolyne, 43, from Dalston, were invited to a tea party at Buckingham Palace for the children of men and women who had died while serving with the armed forces.

Corporal Tony Green, who was attached to the Royal Scots, was shot accidentally while inside the Shackleton Barracks at Ballykelly in January 2001 aged 25.

His son Dylan, a Caldew School pupil, was born just a few months later.

He was one of 800 youngsters to be invited to the Queen's home for the Party at the Palace event last weekend in which the site's sprawling gardens were transformed into an open-air festival for guests, who brought a surviving parent or guardian.

William, Kate and Prince Harry invited ventriloquist Nina Conti, singer Jess Glynne and Britain's Got Talent-winning magician Lance Corporal Richard Jones to entertain the crowds.

"It was amazing to go there but it was mixed emotions," said Carolyne, who works at the Marks & Spencer foodhall in Kingstown.

"It was wonderful to meet the other parents and children who have been in the same circumstances. Dylan was able to speak to a 17-year-old who has been in a similar situation.

"I was able to meet other women who'd lost their husbands who've gone through the same things, it was a lovely day out.

"We were shocked when we got the invite about two months ago."

Carolyne added: "The whole day was fantastic and an experience we'll never forget.

"These kind of things definitely help to deal with something that was a very sad time in life. We live every day as it comes, it's something you never forget."

A Kensington Palace spokesman said: "Their Royal Highnesses arranged the event as a way to acknowledge and honour the fact that a number of young children have had to come to terms with the loss of someone very close to them at a young age, having lost a parent in armed service to the country."