A seven year old girl from Weymouth has been inspired to start ukulele lessons after receiving one of the last ever letters from Her Majesty the Queen.

Ava Hine sent the Queen a heartwarming card - that pictures Ava holding a pet tortoise, called Marley on the front - which, when opened, plays a specially-penned jubilee song from the youngster.

Ava, wrote to the Queen, saying: “Madam, congratulations on celebrating seventy years of service. I had a lovely Jubilee party with my family and I performed a song for you!

The song goes ‘the Jubilee is here / the platinum Jubilee / everybody is happy / everybody is grateful for our Majesty’.

Ava received a card from the Queen reading:“I send you my grateful thanks for your kind message on the occasion of the Seventieth Anniversary of my Accession to the Throne".

Leah Hine, Ava’s mum, said Ava ‘absolutely loved the Queen’. Leah said: "She was delighted to receive the letter because she'd almost stopped thinking she was going to get one.

“She came home from school on the Wednesday and saw the letter with the Buckingham Palace stamp on the front and she was just so happy. It was a real honour.

“The next day she was chatting about it at school and then, that evening, we found out that the Queen had passed away. She took the card into school the next day and I think it cheered a few people up in the class.”

Ava, who attends Radipole Primary School, visited Buckingham Palace during the Easter holidays and the family plan to go back up next year.

Leah said: "We had a quick look at the Palace, all along the Mall and she absolutely loved it. She loved looking at the guards and I'd actually said to her that I really wanted her to go up whilst it was still the Queen's house so I’m really glad that we did.”

Having dabbled with the ukulele for her Jubilee song, Ava has been inspired to start lessons after receiving the card from the Queen.

Leah said: “We just had a couple of ukuleles in the house because she has two sisters that used to play about on it. Ava she was mucking about on it for the Jubilee but now she wants to take it up properly now and has started classes."