Queen says 'thanks' for lockdown wordsearch from seven-year-old

The Queen has said thanks to a seven-year-old boy who created a wordsearch to keep her entertained during lockdown.

Timothy, from Billericay in Essex, made a happiness themed puzzle for the Queen, as he was worried lockdown was making her sad.

The Queen thanked him for his thoughtful puzzle in a letter from Windsor Castle.

"It was very good [the letter] and it was very important and made me happy that she liked it," said Timothy.

"She's probably wanting to keep herself busy," he said.

One of the Queen's ladies in waiting wrote to Timothy to thank him for his "kind letter, and for the puzzle" created specifically for Her Majesty.

She said the Queen hoped he was "keeping safe and well" and that his "thoughtfulness was greatly appreciated".

Timothy wanted to help others feel happy during lockdown and so let his mum, Jo, make copies of the wordsearch to hand out to people in their street.

"He kept saying to me not to send the original to anyone else because that was for the Queen, " she said.

"He's always thinking about other people.

"He sent it with a letter saying how she might be feeling sad or lonely because of lockdown... he picked happiness as a theme because he wanted words that would make people think of happy things as they did it."