Lola Woodfield, 8, received one of the last letters from the Queen
Nearly 80 years separate Lola Woodfield and Irene Hardman but the schoolgirl and pensioner have one thing in common - their love and respect for the Queen. Ahead of Her Majesty's state funeral on Monday September 19, they have spoken about what Queen Elizabeth II meant to them.
As well as the letter, Lola received a thank you card with photographs of the Queen. Lola, who lives with mum Kayleigh, 35, dad Gary, 56, and sister Lexie, 13, said: "I'm going to keep them really safe in the drawer in my bedroom. I think I'm so lucky I got a letter because she means the most to everyone. When she died it made me feel sad as she's the only Queen we had. She was kind.
"She loved watching all the celebrations on telly. Her favourite was Paddington and the Queen and she loved Prince Louie. She thought he was the star of the show. She thinks he's hilarious. "It's very sad. We haven't known anything else, the Queen as always been there," said Irene, who vaguely remembers the death of King George VI when she was a child growing up in The Meadows. As the only household in the street to have a television, she recalled friends and neighbours huddled round the tiny black and white screen watching the news of his death in February 1952 and the Queen's Coronation in June 1953.
Irene turned up early and waited for four hours to get a ringside spot in Old Market Square when the Queen visited Nottingham with William and Kate as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012. Irene remembers meeting Princess Diana outside Nottingham Playhouse. "She wonderful," she said. "It was a horrible day - I'd got no umbrella and I stood there, wet through. I'll never forget it - she got out of car and comes straight up to me and gets hold of my hand and says 'now you promise me when you go home, dry your hair and keep nice and dry and I'm so sorry for being late.
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