British queen sends first royal thank-you by e-mail to youngsters

Apr 28, 2009, 11:55 GMT

London - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has sent her first royal thank-you by e-mail to 23 young people around the world to mark the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth.

The recipients all responded to a Buckingham Palace invitation to write an internet blog on the royal website about their typical day and their thoughts on the contemporary meaning of the Commonwealth, the alliance of 53 nations founded in 1949.

Accounts came from as far afield as Belize, Papua New Guinea, Jamaica and the Solomon Islands, but also from large member states Canada and Australia.

For 12-year-old Katrina Barber in Australia, the queen is the 'boss' of the Commonwealth.

Katrina, who lives on a remote cattle station 200 kilometres from Alice Springs, wants the queen to visit, so she can ask her what it's like to swap a palace for the Australian bush.

'I am heartened by your messages to see that the special spirit of the Commonwealth if alive and well among so many talented and enthusiastic young people,' the queen said in her e-mail reply, headlined 'A Message from Her Majesty the Queen' and signed 'Elizabeth R.'

The queen, who sent her first e-mail in 1976 and posts her Christmas message on YouTube, uses e-mail regularly for private correspondence with family and friends - but never so far for an official thank-you and reply.

She was so taken by the informal tone of the childrens' blogs that she chose e-mail to reply for the first time to relay the personally-drafted message, said the Palace.

'The queen thought it would be a good idea to respond to the children online because that is the way they communicate,' said a palace spokesman.