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Schoolgirl receives SURPRISE letter of thanks from the Queen for Platinum Jubilee poem a day after her death

Lois Hanson, a primary school student from Hampshire, had sent Queen Elizabeth II a poem to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee and forgotten about it

BY KUNAL DEY

PUBLISHED SEP 13, 2022

Queen Elizabeth II photographed at Windsor Castle on April 28, 2022, in Windsor, England (Photo by Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

LONDON, ENGLAND: A nine-year-old schoolgirl was in for a pleasant surprise when she received a note of "grateful thanks" from the Queen a day after she died.

Lois Hanson, a primary school student from West End, Hampshire, had sent Queen Elizabeth II a poem to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee and forgotten about it. However, she finally received a response from the late monarch on Friday, September 9, the day after Her Majesty passed away aged 96. Lois' mother found the cream-colored envelope in their letterbox and realized it was perhaps one of the Queen's final pieces of correspondence.

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The letter was reportedly signed 'Elizabeth R' and thanked little Lois for her kind words. It also featured two photographs of the Queen alongside a Royal coat of arms, extending "grateful thanks for your kind message on the occasion of the Seventieth Anniversary of my Accession to the Throne." Lois told the Daily Mail, "She was a wonderful Queen and her Jubilee showed us all the wonderful things she has done for us and I wanted to do something for her. I was in shock. I felt happy that I had a card from her, but sad because she had died the day before."

Queen Elizabeth II waits in the Drawing Room before receiving newly elected leader of the Conservative party Liz Truss at Balmoral Castle for an audience where she will be invited to become Prime Minister and form a new government on September 6, 2022 in Aberdeen, Scotland. The Queen broke with the tradition of meeting the new prime minister and Buckingham Palace, after needing to remain at Balmoral Castle due to mobility issues. — Queen Elizabeth II waits in the Drawing Room before receiving newly elected leader of the Conservative party Liz Truss at Balmoral Castle for an audience where she will be invited to become Prime Minister and form a new government on September 6, 2022, in Aberdeen, Scotland. (Photo by Jane Barlow - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Lois' mother Zoe Hanson noticed that the postmark of the reply was dated September 7, 2022 -- the day before the Queen had died. "Lois wanted to send [the poem] to The Queen and so we put it in an envelope to Buckingham Palace, never ever expecting a reply," she told the outlet. "It had completely disappeared from our minds over the last four months until the postman came on Friday, the day after the Queen had died. The only letter through the door that day, it was a posh envelope, so I checked the postmark, which was Buckingham Palace, 07.09.22." She added, "It must be one of the last things to come from [the Queen]. When it came through the post I was very excited about it - because I had completely forgotten that she'd written to the Queen, as [her Jubilee] was four months ago now."

Queen Elizabeth II watches from the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Trooping the Colour parade the Trooping the Colour parade on June 2, 2022 in London, England. Trooping The Colour, also known as The Queen's Birthday Parade, is a military ceremony performed by regiments of the British Army that has taken place since the mid-17th century. It marks the official birthday of the British Sovereign. This year, from June 2 to June 5, 2022, there is the added celebration of the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II in the UK and Commonwealth to mark the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne on 6 February 1952. — Queen Elizabeth II watches from the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Trooping the Colour parade on June 2, 2022, in London, England. (Photo by Jonathan Brady - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Zoe, 47, then waited for Lois to return home from school. "I said to her 'there's something really, really important for you to open'. And she got very excited to see her name on there and that it had come from Buckingham Palace," she added. "It's just a lovely, lovely piece of history."

Lois' poem for Her Majesty read,

You shine oh so bright, like stars in the night

Happy jubilee, I know you’ll have a cup of tea

The jubilee will be history and it’s you they will see

Happy Jubilee.

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Zoe said she had to stop her daughter from taking the original letter to school and instead gave her a photocopy to show her schoolmates. "Lois wanted to take it to school, and I said 'no, no - you're not putting that in a school bag' because then it gets yogurt on it," the mother said. "I know what goes on in a school bag - well, no, who knows what goes on in a school bag?" Lois and Zoe are now looking for the perfect frame for the Queen's response. "We're trying to decide what happens to it. We think we're going to get it framed. I think probably in the living room somewhere - pride of place," Zoe added.