University graduate Elle Mayne met the Queen at the opening of the new Coram centre for children after designing an exhibition commemorating the anniversary of the birth of the charity’s founder.
Elle, who graduated with a first class degree in Event and Experience Design at Kent, was introduced as the Queen opened the charity’s new Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London on 5 December.
Elle had designed an exhibition to mark the 350th anniversary of Thomas Coram – founder of the Foundling Hospital, London’s first home for babies whose mothers were unable to care for them.
Elle’s exhibition is still on display at Coram and she has since been retained by the charity under its graduate scheme to design graphics for the interior of the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, as well as creating a possible two further exhibitions.
Elle said: ‘I never anticipated after graduating in July that a few months later I would be meeting the Queen. It was a very surreal, but special moment, an experience that I will always remember.’
Her opportunity to work on the Coram project came following an approach to her tutor at Kent, Paul Gambrill, who is a well-known event and experience designer.
He said: ‘I was contacted out of the blue back in late summer and as Elle had just graduated I thought immediately that this would be a fantastic opportunity for her to work on a live exhibition project.’