Stromness pupils wrote letters of condolence to King Charles III, and earned a visit from a royal representative who delivered their well-wishes.
Orkney’s Lord Lieutenant Elaine Grieve is a former head teacher at Stromness Primary. But she recently visited pupils in her current role as the King’s representative in the islands.
While at the school, she captivated the pupils with stories of her time spent with various members of the royal family, including the King when he was still the Duke of Rothesay.
While speaking to Ms Grieve, who dazzled the pupils by visiting in full dress uniform, teachers said that pupils felt like dignitaries receiving a formal visit.
And now that their letters are in the mail, they’re waiting with bated breath to see if any envelopes with a royal seal come back to Orkney.
Real-life ‘link’ to the King
Ms Grieve’s stories held the pupils mesmerised, and she told them about not only meeting with royalty but being able to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
Joanna Tulloch, a P4 teacher at Stromness, said that after the Queen’s death her pupils wanted to write to the King to encourage him. They joined the thousands of others who have written to the King.
“The pupils wrote some wonderful letters to him which really highlighted the sentiment of the whole thing – how sad they were that Queen Elizabeth had died but how they thought he would do a really good job as he had learned from her.
“It was also a fantastic opportunity for them to learn about writing a formal letter but with a very real purpose.”
Ms Grieve’s visit left the pupils honoured to think they were having a brush with the royal family.
Joanna said: “It was absolutely fantastic – they were so interested in her job and what she does as Lord Lieutenant as well as being fascinated at what she could tell us about being at the actual funeral.
“They had so many questions they wanted to ask her – she was in for an hour, but she could’ve spent all day with us.
“I think that for them, hearing from someone who had actually met King Charles and could tell us about him as a person gave them a real-life ‘link’ to King Charles.”
Maybe a special reply in the post?
According to a recent social media post, more than 50,000 letters and cards arrived for members of the royal family since the Queen’s death.
Last month, Highland pupils from Muirtown Primary school had their own brush with royalty when they received a rather shocking thank-you letter from the Queen herself – which arrived only hours after she died.
Ms Grieve’s visit to Stromness whetted pupils’ appetites for a brush with royalty. Now, they’re hoping to be among the lucky well-wishers to get a reply from the royal family.
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