She’s been granted a royal appointment after winning Britain’s Got Talent with the Hawkstone Farmers Choir.

But Horndean woman, Gwen Woodruffe, has revealed she played a key role in the group’s journey from a field in Oxfordshire to being crowned 2026 winners of the ITV competition.

The farmer’s wife followed in the footsteps of Petersfield singer Michael Auger last Saturday by winning the same competition his Collabro group won in 2012.

Her journey could follow the same trajectory with a charity single planned and mentions of Glastonbury.

The last week has been a blur for Gwen, whose group romped home to the title with more than a quarter of the final vote.

But she’ll never forget the journey that began when she spied an advert for a project in the Farmer’s Weekly last year, not knowing it would take her to the BGT final.

She said: “We started the Hawkstone Farmers Choir last April and I didn’t even think I would get in.

“It was a hope and a prayer but I just wanted to do it because it sounded like fun. So we did the adverts but wanted to continue.

“Jeremy Clarkson might have brought us together, but I set up the WhatsApp group that kept us all in contact.

“I went to everyone in the group and got all their numbers. A lot have said this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t done that, so I’m very proud of that.”

Gwen, an agriculturalist who is heavily involved in the Petersfield Young Farmers, said she “was in her own happy world” on the Hammersmith Apollo stage with the group opting to sing the moving and poignant original song, This Is Home.

“The first time we played that back in October or November the writer, Simon Gwilliam, said ‘I’ve written this little song’ and asked us what we though,” said Gwen.

“We loved it. It sums everything up and even then, he said let’s save for the final, adamant it would happen.”

There’s also the small matter of a performance at the Royal Variety Show and a £250,000 cheque for winning the series.

The choir insisted from the start they would give the money to charities that help farmers struggle with loneliness, depression and similar issues, with Shout, MIND, the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institute, Farming Community Network and DPJ Foundation getting funds.

The choir celebrated in a pub afterward with Jeremy Clarkson, judges, friends and family members and the runners-up, drone supremos Celestial.

They’ve even talked of doing a Glastonbury appearance together as festival founder Michael Eavis has a rather large farm and they’re from his native Somerset.

She said: “I had 14 people in the audience supporting me and there was a massive crowd outside the Apollo at the end – we really can’t thank everyone enough.

“We would love to do Glastonbury – can you imagine us on the Pyramid stage and Celestial doing a drone show at the same time? That would be epic.”