After reaching out to Queen Elizabeth II back in mid-January, Pat Pegus’s Grade 3 class from Juniper School were pleasantly surprised when they received a personalized response from Buckingham Palace in late March.
“I’ve been reading The BFG to the kids … and the Queen is a part of the story,” said Pegus, referencing Roald Dahl’s classic 1982 children’s book.
“As a writing activity, I got the kids to write letters to the Queen to ask her if she has read this book at all to her own grandchildren and what she thought about the story.”
According to Pegus, the students took the time to include their own hand-drawn illustrations as well.
Even though the Queen didn’t sign this response letter herself, Lady-in-Waiting Jennifer Gordon-Lennox, one of the Royal Family’s personal assistants, assured the students that Her Majesty did, in fact, read their questions and “was touched to see the care you have each taken with your artwork.”
Pegus told Nickel Belt News that Gordon-Lennox also enclosed a number of photos and documents that lay out what a day in the life of the Queen really is like.
This isn’t the first time that Pegus’s students have participated in this kind of exercise, since they also correspond with pen pals in Wabowden and host a writers’ symposium to show off their own original works.
In the aftermath of this event, Pegus provided each of her students with a copy of this response letter, which will hopefully encourage them to continue developing their writing skills moving forward.
“It’s a very nice letter, and quite exciting for them,” she said. “We wrote to Santa Claus and he didn’t write back, which is very sad.”
