An adorable seven-year-old boy was delighted after he created a wordsearch to keep the Queen entertained during lockdown – only to receive a letter back from royal staff.
Little Timothy Madders, from Billericay, Essex, was worried that the Queen may be bored or sad during lockdown – so created a happiness-themed puzzle to keep her busy.
In his best handwriting, the youngster hid words such as ‘happiness’, ‘love’, ‘family’, and ‘sunshine’ in his royal puzzle.
And he was amazed when he got a letter back from one of Her Majesty’s ladies-in-waiting, thanking him for his kind and thoughtful crossword.
The letter, dated July 3 and hand-signed by Philippa de Pass, reads: “Dear Timothy, The Queen wishes me to write and thank you for your kind letter, and for the puzzle you have created especially for Her Majesty.
“Your thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated, and The Queen hopes that you too are keeping safe and well in the current situation.
“I am to thank you very much indeed for writing as you did at this time.”
Timothy’s mum, Jo Madders, said her son is “always thinking about other people.”
Jo told the BBC: “He wanted to do something to cheer her up and he did it in his neatest handwriting.
“He kept saying to me not to send the original to anyone else because that was for the Queen.”
Timothy, who sent his wordsearch to the Queen at the beginning of May, said: “It was very interesting to get the letter from the Queen’s lady-in-waiting.
“It made me feel special and happy. I wanted the Queen to be happy, I was trying to think of what to do to cheer her up.
“The wordsearch took me about a day to make.”
His mum Jo, 36, a school business manager, added: “We’d kind of forgotten all about it, because he sent it off a couple of months ago.
“But then this week he got a letter addressed to him with ER on the postmark. It was very exciting.”