A Croydon woman is to be the first female standard bearer at the Royal British Legion's annual Festival of Remembrance.

On Sunday millions of television viewers will see Julia Poulter take centre stage at the Royal Albert Hall.

The 23-year-old, who is a member of the Croydon branch of the Royal British Legion, will also be the youngest person to bear the flag in front of the Queen and Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Julia said: "I've been involved in this since I was 14 when I joined the West Wickham branch of the Legion as a member of its youth section."

After entering a competition to be the national youth standard bearer, which she won two years on the trot, Julia decided to set her sights higher.

She entered the national adult competition last year and came third before entering again this year and scooping first place.

"Because I'd joined the youth section, I'd always been affiliated to the Legion, rather than the women's section," Julia said, "People always said to me you'll never get that far' and I thought yes I will'.

"When I came third everyone was shocked that I didn't come last, so it was even better that I came first this year."

Julia had to get through the county stage and regional stage of the competition before competing against people from 11 different regions in Blackpool in May to become the national standard bearer.

"It's almost like a military drill, it's all about how you dress and how you stand. If you move your head or have fluff on your shoe you will lose but in the end I won by seven points.

"I'm quite nervous about Saturday but I'm also sitting my finals this week to become a chartered accountant, so I'm thinking about that too."

Despite achieving her "ultimate goal" Julia said she will not be hanging up her uniform just yet.

"My next challenge is to retain the title next year. The national youth standard bearer is a girl so it's quite female dominated at the moment.

"Hopefully, the fact I'm younger will encourage people to follow in my footsteps, rather than me being a girl."

And it seems Julia's eagerness to be part of the Legion is something of a family affair.

Her mum Liz said: "I'm very proud of her. Julia has been poppy collecting since she was just 18-months-old. We had never joined the Legion because we didn't know how, but then we followed Julia and now both my husband and I are both involved in the branch."

Tune into BBC1 at 9.35pm this Saturday to see Julia carrying the flag.