A former Cardigan Bay fisherman who made world news when the Royal Yacht Britannia stopped and The Queen purchased lobsters from him, has died at his Poppit Sands home.

Boat owner Bertram Wynn, popularly known as Bertie, along with crew member and close friend Robert ‘Tonka’ Rees, made daily trips to sea from their Cei Bach base near Poppit to pick up and set strings of lobster pots.

In the summer of 1989 they were a few miles off Cardigan Island when to their amazement the Royal Yacht, conveying The Queen for her annual holiday at Balmoral in Scotland, stopped and the royals waved to them.

A message was relayed to Bertie and Robert asking if they could provide Her Majesty with lobsters and after agreeing to supply The Queen a pilot boat was lowered and sailed to the fishing vessel to pick up ten or so lobsters.

When the Britannia resumed its voyage The Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and others, including the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, continued to wave to the flabbergasted fishermen.

As news of the incident broke Bertie claimed to sell lobster and crab by royal appointment and he became the centre of attention from the media with the story making headlines such as “Drool Britannia”.

Asked by a tabloid if The Queen had paid the going rate for the lobsters Bertie was diplomacy itself when replying “That is between Her Majesty and myself.”

Bertie, aged 80, of Glanymor Fach, Poppit, died on Thursday.

He leaves his wife Lorna and sister Doreen to whom is extended the sympathy of countless friends over a wide area.

The funeral is being held on Thursday with a public service at St Thomas’s Church in St Dogmaels at 1pm.

There are family flowers only but donations in lieu can be made to Wales Air Ambulance c/o Colin Phillips, Funeral Director, Morgan Street, Cardigan (tel. 01239 621192).