Pupils and teachers from Lomond School have spoken of their ‘honour and privilege’ after receiving a letter from the Queen’s Lady-in-Waiting in one of the monarch’s final communications.

The school’s Clarendon Rangers, made up of children in Junior 1 and 2, wrote to the Queen in June to congratulate her on her Platinum Jubilee.

When no response was received, the pupils and teachers assumed it was due to the high volume of messages received during the celebrations.

But an envelope arrived on September 14, addressed to the Clarendon Rangers, containing a response from Queen Elizabeth II’s Lady-in-Waiting.

The letter is dated September 6, which is the day the Queen welcomed the fifteenth Prime Minister of her 70-year reign, Liz Truss. The Queen died at Balmoral two days later, on September 8.

It reads: “The Queen wishes me to write and thank you for the letter which you sent to Her Majesty on the occasion of her Platinum Jubilee.

“The Queen was glad to hear from you and, although unable to reply to you personally, Her Majesty greatly appreciated the nice things you said.

“Please accept my apologies for the delay in response; as I am sure you will understand, The Queen has received a large volume of post in recent months and as a result, it has not been possible to reply to you until now.

“I am to thank you again for your message of good wishes to Her Majesty in this, her Platinum Jubilee year.”

The children were delighted to hear back, but shocked to receive the letter in such emotional circumstances.

J2 pupil Annabel said: “It’s nice to write letters and we told her we loved her tea party with Paddington Bear.

J3’s Prabsharan added: “It is her Platinum Jubilee year and we wanted to say well done.

Jamie, also in J3, said: “My heart was beating really fast because that letter came from Balmoral Castle.”

Donald, J2, added: “I had no words. It was written on the very last day that the Queen did her job.”

Janet MacLeod, who teaches J3, recalled the emotional moment the letter was read to the Clarendon Rangers.

She said: “We are completely honoured and privileged to have received one of the final communications from Her Majesty as her life drew to a close at Balmoral.

“The letter is irreplaceable; it is such an important part of history.

“Although the children understood it was awesome to receive a letter from Her Majesty, they won’t realise until they are older the significant date it was written and the timing of its arrival.

“When it arrived it quite literally took our breath away.”

The Clarendon Rangers all have a copy of the letter to include in their journal from last session.