A Holocaust survivor who found safety in the UK as a domestic servant has turned 100.

Natalie Huss-Smickler celebrated her birthday yesterday with a party for her family and friends.

The grandmother of five was presented with a card from the Queen at the party, which was held at Jewish Care’s Selig Court in Golders Green.

Ms Huss-Smickler said: “I am very moved, it gives me great pleasure to celebrate my birthday with family and friends.”

The centenarian arrived in England from Vienna in 1938 at the age of 26 and found a job as a domestic servant for a doctor in Kensington.

However, she nearly fell into Nazi hands before arriving in England.

While on a train bound for the ferry to England she faced a Belgian border station where all Jews were ordered to disembark.

She would have obeyed the order but a nun sitting next to her told her not to move.

Ms Huss-Smickler, who was married and had two sons, said: “Those words saved my life.

“I was probably the only Jew to get through.”