When Gemma Berg posted her son Charlie’s letter to the Queen, she never thought she would hear back. 

So when a letter stamped with the Royal coat of arms arrived at her house days after Her Majesty’s death, the Loughton Synagogue member was stunned.

“I was really blown away and emotional, and then noticing the postmark that it had been sent out on the day she died was just unbelievable, really emotional, and I was just so excited for [Charlie] to come back from school,” she told the JC.

After learning about the royal family at school and helping to decorate his house for the Platinum Jubilee, Charlie had asked his mother if they could invite Queen Elizabeth to visit. 

Mrs Berg told him she didn’t think the monarch would come, but he could send a letter congratulating her instead.

The former primary school teacher had to google where to post the message, and said she wondered, “will someone really read this?”

But, she added: “I thought it was so lovely he wanted to do that. This is such a lovely opportunity for him to do something with writing that he wants to do. 

“It’s child-led, he’s decided he wants to do this, and how lovely of him to use his time on this.”

After the Queen died, Mrs Berg broke the news gently to Charlie, and the family thought they would never receive a response. 

When he opened the card, the 7-year-old schoolboy, who attends Clore Tikva Primary, initially did not believe it was real.

Gemma berg

Charlie Berg, 7, and his royal letter (Photo: Gemma Berg)

The message from Her Majesty read: “I send you my grateful thanks for your kind message on the occasion of the Seventieth Anniversary of my Accession to the Throne. Elizabeth R."

Mrs Berg told the JC: “We’re so upset about the Queen’s passing all of us, to have that was just magical really - it was really emotional and really special.”

“The timing of it made it all the more special and all the more emotional for him,” she added.

Speaking on BBC Radio London, Charlie said that when he received the letter: “I was really excited and my emotions were really happy.”

“I wanted her to come and visit to my house and to have a private talk with her to tell her about her royal family,” he added.

Asked what he would say to her if she had come, he said: “Hello Queen, are your legs ok and is your back ok too? And you look beautiful today.”

Reflecting on the significance of the Queen to Britain’s Jewish community, Mrs Berg told the JC: “She’s a constant, isn’t she, she’s always there. 

“Being Jewish, and actually with any religion, it’s having that respect. Having that respect for everybody, being inclusive and taking the time…

“I find with the Jewish community it’s inclusive, we get together, we’re a community. With the Queen, when she would meet with people - not that we ever met her - it always felt like she would make you feel better. 

“There was something about the Queen that made it feel like you knew her, and there was almost that community feeling that like in the Jewish community it brought you together.”