WORLD cup hero Will Greenwood rubbed shoulders with the Prime Minister and the Queen for a teatime reception at Buckingham Palace.

Former Stonyhurst College pupil Will and the rest of England's rugby team were heralded during a victory parade in London yesterday before the special celebration.

He was then accompanied by heavily pregnant wife Caro, who is due to give birth early next year, as the World Cup winners went to 10 Downing Street with Tony Blair and other politicians.

The couple lost their baby son Freddie soon after his birth 14 months ago and Will flew back to England from Perth in the middle of the World Cup when Caro went into hospital with some complications over her new pregnancy.

After a few days, the crisis passed and Will, who was brought up in the Ribble Valley and whose parents Susan and Richard live in Hurst Green, was able to return and play a leading role in England's triumph.

But yesterday's victory parade, where he was joined by fellow ex-Stonyhurst pupils Kyron Bracken and Iain Balshaw, was the first time since he came back to England that Greenwood had taken part in any celebrations.

The centre had initially given much of the post-World Cup celebrations a miss and has spent much of the time with Caro.

He said: "I have missed out on a lot of it as I have spent a lot of time at home since I have got back - and I have been hugely, hugely delighted to get back to the missus. Caro's out of hospital and approaching 30 weeks and looking forward to a successful pregnancy. "Coming back split the World Cup up for us in terms of time away, I had four or five days there and I was comfortable going back."

Then came the final - and the fact there were so many more important things going on in their lives helped both Greenwoods, who now live in London, cope with the event.

Will added: "Some people were really affected by the final - my dad couldn't watch and Jonny Wilkinson's mum went shopping but Caro watched the whole final and her heart rate didn't go above 60 beats per minute.

Greenwood was all smiles yesterday.

He said: "The parade was incredible but I was not going to cry - I didn't feel those sorts of emotions, just sheer pleasure to be there."

Will told the Queen that he was overwhelmed by the victory parade through the centre of London: "It was phenomenol, there were people coming out of every doorway."