CANALE D’AGORDO, Italy – A fifth-grade student in the Italian Dolomites has received a personal response from Buckingham Palace after writing to King Charles III to share a remarkable coincidence: her grandfather shares the same birthday as the monarch.
Lavinia Battaglia, a student at the elementary school in Canale d’Agordo, was inspired to write to the King after her grandfather, Angelo Lorenzi, recounted the shared November 14th birthday – both were born in 1948. The realization struck Lavinia, and with the help of her mother, Luana, and her English teacher, she penned a letter and sent it to the royal residence.
The letter, originating from the small post office in Canale d’Agordo – formerly known as Forno di Canale – included a hand-drawn illustration of King Charles at Buckingham Palace. After a period of anticipation, a reply arrived, signed by James Dawson, Head of Royal Correspondence and Operational Deliveries at the British Royal Household.
According to Lavinia’s mother, the response was a source of great excitement. “For Lavinia, it was a great emotion to receive this letter, with so much anticipation, so much trepidation, and finally to be able to open it and read the response directly from Buckingham Palace,” Luana Battaglia said.
The letter from Mr. Dawson read, “Dear Lavinia, The King has asked me to thank you for your letter, to which you generously enclosed a lovely drawing of His Majesty. It was very thoughtful of you. The King is unable to reply to you personally but I can tell you that His Majesty was pleased to hear from you and was touched by your kind thought for your grandfather Angelo, who, as you say, recently celebrated his 77th birthday on the same day as The King, November 14th.”
The response acknowledged the volume of correspondence received by the Royal Family, noting that all letters receive a personalized reply. It concluded with, “Thank you again for your kind thought for His Majesty, who has asked me to send you his warmest wishes, hoping that your grandfather had a pleasant birthday with family and friends.”
King Charles, currently engaged in a visit to Italy, was recently seen at the Colosseum in Rome with Queen Camilla, accompanied by art historian Alberto Angela. The Royal Family maintains a robust correspondence operation, handling a significant volume of mail from well-wishers around the globe.