A SCHOOLGIRL'S letter to the soon to be crowned Queen was printed in the Malvern Gazette fifty years ago.

Audrey Farmer, aged 12, of Abbey Road, was so upset at the Royal Family's bereavement that she penned and posted her own message of sympathy.

"Dear Queen," she wrote, "I am so sorry you have lost your father. Mummy, Daddy and myself send you our sincere sympathy. . . . I hope you will have a long and happy reign and still be Queen when I am grown up.

"I remain your respectful and loyal subject, Audrey Farmer".

Audrey did get a reply in the shape of a letter signed by a lady-in-waiting, Lady Jean Elphinstone.

She said: "Her Majesty was deeply touched your thought for her in her sorrow."