A FAMILY is mourning the loss of a Westbury civil servant who helped to assess HRH Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, when he joined the British Army.

Justine Ward was one of the civilian members of the team at the Army Office Selection Board centre in Warminster Road, Westbury.

She helped to assess Prince William after he joined the army in 2006. He later completed 44 weeks of training as an officer cadet and was commissioned in the Blues and Royals Regiment.

Mrs Ward, 56, died on Sunday, July 28 at the Royal United Hospital in Bath after being admitted with pancreatic cancer.

She had been working for up to two weeks before she died, taking days off only for chemotherapy treatments and holiday.

Mrs Ward (nee Atwell) was born into a military family and educated at the Marist Convent School at Paignton, Devon.

The family later moved to Germany, where her step-father Sgt Major John Braidford was stationed. He later left the Army and joined the Royal Air Force.

While living in Dülmen in Germany, Mrs Ward obtained a job as a military secretary and, when the family came back to the UK, she moved to the Warminster Garrison to become its public relations officer for many years.

Later, she moved to Westbury to join the Army Officer Selection Board, with whom she worked for 19 years.

She leaves behind a husband, Tony Ward, and a daughter, Jay, as well as her mother Georgia Braidford, 84, and her brother Sheridan Atwell.

A funeral service is being held at 11am on August 16 at the West Wiltshire Crematorium at Semington. It will be followed by a memorial service at the Baptist Church in Dilton Marsh at 11am on September 6.