Eight-year-old girl receives one of Queen Elizabeth II's final letters: 'Her majesty was touched'

A little girl from the state of Victoria in Australia became the proud owner of one of Queen Elizabeth II's final letters after the youngster sent the late monarch a handwritten letter along with a series of adorable photos of herself dressed up as the royal. According to Nine News, Olivia Akers—who lives with her family on a dairy farm in Tallygaroopna in the state's north—wrote to the Queen after her Platinum Jubilee in June. "We wrote the letter because it was her Jubilee and I had an online fancy dress competition and we thought she might like the photos of me dressing up as the Queen," the young girl shared.

"Dear Queen Elizabeth, my name is Olivia Akens. I am eight years old and live in Tallygaroopna in Australia," Olivia wrote in her letter, before telling the Queen that she enjoyed seeing her video with Paddington Bear. "Do you really eat marmalade sandwiches?" she added. Olivia and her mother Natalie Akers also attached photos of the child dressed as Her Majesty at the Trooping the Colour ceremony. "I hope you like my photos? My side saddle came from England. My pony's name is Lady and she is an Australian pony. How many horses do you have?" Olivia asked the monarch in her letter.

Speaking to ABC's Victorian Country Hour with Warwick Long, Akers revealed that since sending the letter in June, her daughter has been patiently waiting for a reply from the Queen. However, when it was announced last week that the 96-year-old royal had died "peacefully" at her Balmoral estate in the Scottish Highlands, the family thought the letter would never come. So you can imagine their surprise when there was something very special waiting for Olivia at the Tallygaroopna post office that same day. "The lady at the post office says, 'You've got a very special piece of mail today'," Ms Akers recalled.

"We had a bit of a greeting card for the Queen's Jubilee thanking her for the letter, and then a personalised message from the Queen's lady-in-waiting acknowledging Liv sitting there on her 'splendid' pony," she added. In the reply, a representative of the Queen thanked Olivia on Her Majesty's behalf, writing: "The Queen wishes me to thank you very much for the kind message you sent following the culmination of celebrations for Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee." The letter added that the monarch "was interested" in the photographs "in which you and your splendid pony, Lady, are depicted in the costume... Her majesty was touched to know that you too enjoy horse-riding."

Akers described the experience and timing of the letter's arrival as "just beautiful." She revealed that she rushed the letter to Olivia—who was in school at the time—and that her classmates all took turns to see the letter. "We all got a little bit teary to have such a special letter arrive and it's probably one of her last letters that she would have written," she said. "I'm sure Olivia will treasure that letter for the rest of her life."