A 10-year-old girl from Huntingdon who wrote to the Queen has received an official response from Buckingham Palace.

Katie-Anne Buckenham, a pupil at Huntingdon Primary School, wrote a letter to the monarch to tell her about the struggles she and her family have to face with disability.

She also highlighted the role of her mother, Amanda, who dedicates herself to good causes as well as caring for her family.

Amanda thinks Katie-Anne may have been motivated to write the letter out of a desire to do something positive, since "even for her, life is a struggle". At just 10-years-old, and despite suffering from epilepsy, asthma and hypermobility, she acts as a young carer for her elder sister who is autistic.

The reply arrived in an official Buckingham Palace envelope and a surprised Amanda was the first to see it. But she waited for Katie-Anne, giving it to her to open. "The look on her face was a smile I've not seen for a long while," said Amanda, "It's a moment that I shall keep in my heart forever."

And, when Katie-Anne opened the letter, it was clear it was not simply a generic reply. "You can tell that the things in [Katie Anne's] letter had actually been read," said Amanda.

One part of the royal letter reads: "Her Majesty was most touched that you should wish to share with the Queen your admiration for your mother's hard work and dedication to so many areas of charitable and voluntary work while caring for you and your three siblings."

It continues: "Her Majesty understands the feelings of deep affection and appreciation for your mother that prompted you to write as you did".

Amanda was touched: "I cried. I don't fully know what was in the letter but to get that response, it must have been quite something."

Also enclosed was a photograph of the smiling 93-year-old monarch that came, according to the letter, 'with Her Majesty's good wishes'.