OUR chief photographer Mike Swift has scooped a national award for a striking picture he took of Her Majesty the Queen.

Mike beat photographers from regional newspapers across the country to win the News Media Association's (NMA) Royal Rota Photography Competition.

The picture was taken of the Queen during her visit to Slough Railway Station on June 13 as she met school children before boarding a train to London Paddington.

Her Majesty was actually recreating a famous trip taken by her great, great grandmother, Queen Victoria on the same day in 1842.

Mike, who is chief photographer for Newsquest Berkshire and works for the Slough and Royal Borough Observer, the Reading Chronicle and Bracknell News said: "I've always found Her Maj to be very photogenic but for some reason being within a confined space at the station seemed to work to my advantage even more so. "It created a friendly, intimate setting where you could see real interaction between the Queen and the schoolteacher as well as the amusement of the kids looking on.

"We don't always get to see that."