AFTER the death of the Queen Mother earlier this year, little Kennedy Waugh decided to write to the Queen to say how sorry she was.

The six-year-old got out an A4-size piece of paper and wrote: "I am so sorry you have lost your mummy. This must be a really sad time for you."

Kennedy's mother, Karen, put it in an envelope and posted it off to Buckingham Palace, and then almost forgot about it.

But now Kennedy has had a letter back from the palace, telling her how much the Queen was comforted by such messages of sympathy.

The letter, signed by lady-in-waiting Jennifer Gordon Lennox, reads: "The Queen wishes me to write and thank you so much for your message of sympathy on the death of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

"Her Majesty thought it was very kind of you to write to her, and I am to tell you that messages such as yours have been a great comfort to the Queen. I am to thank you again for writing to Her Majesty at this sad time."

Karen, who runs Kennedys caf bar in Little Stonegate, which she named after her daughter, said: "Kennedy was absolutely over the moon. She couldn't believe it. She has taken it to her school, St Wilfrid's Roman Catholic Primary in Monkgate, to show her teacher and friends in her class.

"I think it's brilliant, because I wasn't even certain it would get to the Queen, let alone get a reply.

"Kennedy just wrote her letter off her own bat. It's just typical of her, she is just so kind-hearted."

Updated: 11:47 Tuesday, June 25, 2002