A Swindon-based artist was shocked to discover that one of the last letters sent by the Queen had arrived on her doorstep.
Judy Guillery, a Swindon-based artist living in Moulden View, drew a portrait of the Queen in her younger years in celebration of Her Majesty's huge milestone of reaching the Platinum Jubilee in April.
After a suggestion from her printer, Steve from Studio Creative, She sent a letter to Buckingham Palace to congratulate The Queen for her years of service shortly after the Jubilee and included the portrait.
But then, after learning of the Queen's death and having decided to work on another portrait - this time as we knew her in recent years - an unexpected response arrived in the form of an unmistakable envelope.
"I had hoped that I would get a response but I appreciated they couldn't get back to everybody," she said.
"We all have our own personal feelings about the Queen and the monarchy and her death, but I was saddened so decided to spend a quiet day of drawing her with a new portrait.
"I was actually working on it on Saturday when I got the letter, which was a real shock, I knew what it was straight away and the letter had the date of her death as her postage date."
Even though she knew that the letter had come from the palace and not necessarily directly from the Queen, she says it felt like a personal 'thank you' that provided some closure to her own feelings of sadness.
"I burst into tears when I saw it. For it to come after she died, and with all the feelings of that emotion, it was quite something.
"I had been caught off-guard by the feelings her death had caused, but then this happened and it completely steamrolled me."
Judy created a TikTok video about the letter which has gone viral and is being watched all over the world, receiving 2.2million views.
"The response has been completely flabbergasting, I had a TikTok account before that which was nothing really. Truth be told I only post on that so I can get music on my videos before sharing on Facebook."
@judeetreeart IT CAME!!!😭😭😭 I knew as soon as I saw the envelope what it was and I started crying before even opening it. Like the rest of the world, I’m still trying to process the death of the Queen, and for this to arrive now is just… I drew the picture of the Queen to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee, I sent a copy to Buckingham Palace addressed to the Queen in hope it might please her. Of course, I know she must receive thousands of letters but I thought maybe I might get a reply. After months passed I had stopped hoping. We all knew she couldn’t last forever, but she has always been here. I will always be grateful for this acknowledgement, and though I know it comes from the Palace, I can hope that perhaps my letter picture reached her at some point and made her smile ❤️ #l#letterfromthequeenl#letterfrombuckinghampalacer#ripqueenelizabethj#judeetreej#judeetreeartq#queenillustrationq#queenportrait ♬ God Save The Queen (Piano Arrangement) - LukeBarrattMusic
Judy will be at the Great Barn arts festival in Faringdon this weekend where the letter and the portrait will be on display next to a book of condolence and more prints will be available to buy.
You can follow Judy's work on her Facebook page - www.facebook.com/judeetree/
And you can purchase her artwork here - www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JudeeTreeArt?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
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