Women join ranks of Chelsea pensioners

Women were today accepted as Chelsea Pensioners for the first time in the institution's 300-year history.

Dorothy Hughes, 85, and Winifred Phillips, 82, were officially welcomed to the Royal Hospital Chelsea in west London.

They will live alongside 300 men at the home for veterans with no dependants.

Declaring "I like men", Ms Phillips said: "It's been fabulous. It's just like the Army all over again but you don't have so much to do."

After a 22-year career in the Army, she raised the question of why women were not allowed to become Chelsea Pensioners.

She said: "When I was living in Shropshire 10 years ago I read a magazine called The Legion and it said they wanted more men, so I wrote and said 'why not women?' Then they wrote back to me later saying they agreed, but it's taken me 10 years to get here."

The move reflects the growing number of women who have joined the Army since the Fifties.

The famous scarlet coats have been adapted for women and there is talk of an official handbag.