Four-year-old girl from Leeds shares one of Queen Elizabeth II's last ever letters

The family of a four-year-old girl who received one of the Queen's last ever letters say they felt "privileged" but "sad" that it arrived the day after her death.

India Chana, from Leeds, wrote to Her Majesty after attending the celebrations to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee earlier in the year.

In her letter, India included a photograph of her family and a drawing of the Queen and said: "Dear Your Majesty the Queen, when I grow up I want to be the Queen. We hope you had a lovely Jubilee. I drew this picture of you and put it up in our window.

"We celebrated with lots of parties. We were sad not to see you but understand you had lots of parties over the celebrations."

Following news of the Queen's death on Thursday, 8 September, her parents Becca and Richard assumed she would never receive a reply.

But – after the Royal Mail strike delayed deliveries – they were surprised when a letter with an official Buckingham Palace postmark, dated 7 September, arrived on Friday, the day after the Queen's passing.

Becca said: "We took her to school as normal. When we picked her up we found this letter on the doorstep and it's from the Queen! I couldn't believe it.

"We were really shocked, privileged but really sad – we wanted the letter but at the same time it's so sad that she's passed away and we received it after she passed away. But it's nice to know that she responded and had seen India's letter and picture."

The Palace's reply included a picture of the Queen and a simple message: "I send you my grateful thanks for your kind message on the occasion of the Seventieth Anniversary of my Accession to the Throne. Elizabeth R."

Last year the Palace advertised for a Royal servant to help Her Majesty respond to the 300 letters she received from fans every day.

During her reign, it is estimated that the Queen sent approximately 307,000 telegrams to people in the UK celebrating their 100th birthdays, and 927,000 to couples marking their 60th wedding anniversaries, along with countless other pieces of official and informal correspondence.

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