Mary Williams has been described as elegant all her life, so it’s perhaps fitting that her 100th birthday party should take place in a luxury hotel and be themed as a “royal tea”.

Family and friends of Mrs Williams will join her on Monday, February 15, at The Fairmont Southampton to celebrate her landmark anniversary.

Among them will be grandson Kamal, who last month won a lengthy court battle against the Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB), and great-granddaughter Kayla Williams, who was first runner-up in last year’s Miss Bermuda contest and was crowned Miss Hospitality.

Mr Williams told The Royal Gazette: “My grandmother has always been described as elegant. Many decades ago she used to teach. She was a dressmaker and she has always been classy and refined.

“It just seemed like a very elegant occasion was necessary. I thought it was a great time for the result for my court case because now I can help my father and my uncle pay for this celebration. It’s been a weight off my shoulders and now I can help to focus on this.”

Mr Williams sued the BHB for negligence after he had to wait ten hours for surgery to remove his appendix in May 2011. He eventually won compensation of $60,000 but the BHB appealed to the Privy Council in London on a point of law. The board lost the appeal on January 25, bringing the matter to a close after four-and-a-half years.

Father-of-two Mr Williams said he pursued his case not for money, but to hold the island’s only hospital to account, and that he would be happy to spend some of his compensation on his grandmother’s special day.

“I’m glad that chapter is over,” he said. “It’s been mentally draining, financially draining. I have had to change how I had to live for at least the last three years. I’m just looking forward to getting back to a reasonably normal life.”

The risk analyst donated $5,000 from his compensation to teenage brain cancer survivor N’Keema Virgil and sponsored and mentored his niece in the Miss Bermuda contest.

“We are all very proud of her,” he said of the teenager, adding that Kayla would be on hand at the 100th birthday party to help present gifts to her great-grandmother.

Mary Williams (née Edmead) was born on February 15, 1916 and spent her early childhood in Prospect. She attended Elliot Primary School and high school in the Sunday school of the Bethel Church. Her mother died when she was 10 and she went to live with foster parents Geraldine and George Peets in Smith’s.

In 1943, she married Treadwell Williams and the couple had two sons, Lloyd and Michael. Her husband became Bermuda’s second road fatality when he was killed in 1948 after his cycle hit a wall at Blue Hole Hill in Hamilton Parish.

Mrs Williams used her dressmaking and tailoring skills to support her family, later going on to work at the Bermuda Post Office for 18 years and for another 18 years at Astwood Dickinson. After she retired in 1976, she helped to set up the Seniors’ Learning Centre.

In an interview for last year’s Senior Citizens’ Biographies, produced by the Ministry of Community, Culture and Sports, she attributed her long life to keeping busy.

Her grandson said: “Her mental faculties are intact and she lives by herself. She has someone to help her cook and clean but that only started recently. She was driving until she was ninetysomething.

“Her birthday is a big deal and I want to make sure my family makes this a memorable birthday for her.”

The royal tea at 4pm is for invited family and friends but anyone wishing to stop by to wish Mrs Williams a happy birthday can do so between 5 and 5.30pm.