PROUD Gwent parents yesterday met the Queen as she visited an RAF base to meet the families of those serving in the Gulf.

During the Queen and Prince Phillip's one-hour visit to RAF Hon-ington, near Bury St Edmunds, she chatted to families of troops in Iraq and Kuwait, as pictured.

Gareth and Gaynor Rendle, from Rogiet, talked to the Queen about their 24-year-old son Alun. Mrs Rendle, 49, said: "It has been an absolutely tremendous day."

She said the Queen was concerned about Alun and was just like anybody else's mum.

She said Alun is a leading aircraftsman with 16 Squa-dron (Rapier Squadron) and is somewhere in Kuwait.

"He phoned home on Sunday and the relief was amazing.

"I was really worried and didn't know whether he was okay," said Mrs Rendall. "Alun went out to the Gulf last Monday.

"He had been on standby for months and it has been such a rollercoaster ride not knowing if he was going to be sent out to the Gulf or not. It was awful when we knew he had to go, but that is his job and he was totally prepared to go where he had to go."

She added that Alun would be spending his 25th birthday out in the Gulf in two weeks time.

She said: "He said he was very very hot and very very tired. It has been a brilliant day, the Queen was very caring."

Kay and Gwyn Roberts, of Six Bells, Abertillery, whose son Jonathan, 22, is serving in the Gulf with the RAF, was also among those to meet the Queen.

Jonathan is a senior aircraftsman with the 16th Squadron.

Mrs Roberts said: "We don't know when, or if, we are going to see him. I'm trying to cope day by day."

Jonathan is due to be married to his fiance Kathleen Turner in December.