Nearly 80 years separate Lola Woodfield and Irene Hardman but the schoolgirl and pensioner have one thing in common - their love and respect for the Queen. Ahead of Her Majesty's state funeral on Monday September 19, they have spoken about what Queen Elizabeth II meant to them.
Lola, eight, from Hucknall was one of the last people to receive a letter from the Queen after sending a photo of a cake she designed and baked for her school's Platinum Jubilee party. The youngster was thrilled when a thank you letter turned up at her home with the royal ER stamp.
The youngster wanted to show the Queen the cake she and her mum Kayleigh Spencer had baked and decorated with a crown and bunting. Lola also drew a picture of the Royal Family on Buckingham Palace's balcony during the jubilee celebrations and wrote telling the Queen how she'd loved watching the TV sketch of the Queen having tea with Paddington Bear, had planted one of the Commonwealth trees in her garden and sung a song about her at school., Holly Hill Primary in Selston.
Read more: ITV This Morning's 'beautiful' tribute to the Queen in goodbye segment
The Queen's Lady in Waiting Annabel Whitehead responded on Balmoral Castle headed notepaper, writing: "Her Majesty was interested to learn about the splendid cake that you created in honour of this special occasion. The Queen appreciated your thoughtfulness in enclosing a photograph of the completed design."
As well as the letter, Lola received a thank you card with photographs of the Queen. Lola, who lives with mum Kayleigh, 35, dad Gary, 56, and sister Lexie, 13, said: "I'm going to keep them really safe in the drawer in my bedroom. I think I'm so lucky I got a letter because she means the most to everyone. When she died it made me feel sad as she's the only Queen we had. She was kind."
Kayleigh, a primary school teacher, said: "This letter is something Lola will treasure forever. When it came she was over the moon. How special to have that, one of the last letters she got to respond to.
"Her school had such an impact on making the jubilee so special for Lola which led to her wanting to get involved and write her letter. Every time we go to London we always have to go to the palace. She was really intrigued about what it was like to be the Queen.
"She loved watching all the celebrations on telly. Her favourite was Paddington and the Queen and she loved Prince Louie. She thought he was the star of the show. She thinks he's hilarious.
"I think it's lovely, especially for children who write in good faith and just think that everybody's going to write back to receive that response must be amazing for them. Lola was absolutely delighted when she received her letter back from the Queen and it was from that letter she wanted to find out more about Balmoral Castle."
Irene Hardman, 86, held the Queen in high regard and is a royalist through and through. The pensioner has pictures of the late monarch in the window of her home in Ruddington.
"It's very sad. We haven't known anything else, the Queen as always been there," said Irene, who vaguely remembers the death of King George VI when she was a child growing up in The Meadows. As the only household in the street to have a television, she recalled friends and neighbours huddled round the tiny black and white screen watching the news of his death in February 1952 and the Queen's Coronation in June 1953.
"I have been a royalist all my life. I was brought up on it. So was my mother and father, that's all we knew. Everyone gathered to see the Coronation. People were knocking on the door saying 'Mr Lynch can we come in and see it?' My dad was an entertainer and he'd have everyone come in.. We had a house full."
Irene, a retired machinist has turned out for Nottingham's royal visits and has met Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Harry and Meghan and Princess Diana over the decades as well as the Queen.
Irene turned up early and waited for four hours to get a ringside spot in Old Market Square when the Queen visited Nottingham with William and Kate as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012.
"She had a walk round and, lo and behold, there she was in front of us, standing having a chat asking how long we'd been waiting. She said thank you for waiting. She was so gracious and so nice. It was unbelievable, standing there with the Queen - it was a wonderful moment.
"She was trying to have a chat to as many people as she could. She looked lovely. What an honour for me, a little girl from The Meadows, standing talking to the Queen."
Irene remembers meeting Princess Diana outside Nottingham Playhouse. "She wonderful," she said. "It was a horrible day - I'd got no umbrella and I stood there, wet through. I'll never forget it - she got out of car and comes straight up to me and gets hold of my hand and says 'now you promise me when you go home, dry your hair and keep nice and dry and I'm so sorry for being late.'"
The royal superfan was dubbed the 'Haribo lady' after first handing Prince Charles bags of the sweets and reminding him to give them to William and Harry when they were boys. It became a tradition and every time she's met Harry, she's always presented him with a bag of Haribo.
"We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful family as we've got," said Irene, who has laid flowers and written a tribute in the book of condolence at the Council House in Nottingham. "She had a wonderful life and lived until she was 96. We were all expecting it at some point but it's still a shock.
"It's a very sad time in our history. She was our Queen and everyone loved her. What wonderful history we've got in England. I tell that to my grandkids to be proud of where you live. We have our ups and downs but so does every other country."
Irene has been glued to the screen since the news first broke and will be watching the funeral on Monday. "I've been crying watching it all and I will be crying on Monday," she said.
READ NEXT:
National mourning row over timing of Nottinghamshire council's housing plan
'Confusing' application almost cost Nottingham woman 'holiday of a lifetime' in £7,000 cruise
TUI passenger who missed 2 days of holiday due to 30-hour flight delay slams 'atrocious' service
Sadness as Beeston shop with 'friendly staff' announces it's closing
