The Queen will be making a personal donation to both the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal in New Zealand and the Japanese disaster fund.
In an average year, The Queen receives approximately 60,000 pieces of correspondence. For her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, The Queen received over 120,000 cards, letters and gifts. Most of The Queen's correspondence comes from the UK: on average about 75%. 10% comes from Commonwealth countries and 15% from other overseas countries.
The oldest ever recipient of a message from The Queen was a Canadian gentleman, who reached the age of 116 in December 1984.
The Queen meets thousands of people each year in the UK and overseas. Many people ask how they should greet Her Majesty. The simple answer is that there are no obligatory codes of behaviour - just courtesy. However, many people wish to observe the traditional forms of greeting. For men this is a neck bow (from the head only) whilst women do a small curtsy. Other people prefer simply to shake hands in the usual way. On…
