Staff and residents at a Hadleigh care home were surprised but delighted to receive a card from the Queen this week.

The residents were moved first by the illness, then the passing of Prince Philip and sent him a get well card and then a sympathy card to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Following the funeral at Windsor Castle, the queen responded to their kindness with a black -bordered card containing a picture of the Duke of Edinburgh and a message from Buckingham Palace.

The message inside the card read: "I send my sincere thanks for your kind words of sympathy on the death of my husband. - Elizabeth R."

Hadleigh Nursing Home manager Jan Seal said: "The residents had sent Prince Philip a Get Well card and were sad to hear of his passing.

"They wanted to send the Queen a sympathy card but did not expect to hear anything back. They were made up to receive the card from her and each of our residents has got their own photocopy of it."

The Queen and Prince Philip had been married 70 years before he passed away earlier this month aged 99.