IT’S not often the Queen’s underwear is discussed, but for youngsters at one East Lancashire preschool it has opened up conversations with Buckingham Palace.

Children at Kittens Preschool in Darwen were inspired to design a special pair of ‘The Queen’s Knickers’ after reading a children’s book of the same name in class.

The book written by Nicholas Allan is used by to help the youngsters explore the history of the Royal family and bring the topic of Tudors alive.

Sharon Watts, manager of the not-for-profit preschool, said: “The children did research into the Royal family so that they could design knickers that she could wear if she ever visits us.

“The children actually thought that The Queen was coming, so we decided to send her a letter.

“We researched as far back as the Tudors and the children were amazed to hear that Henry VIII chopped off his wives’ heads.

“One of the children even wrote a message with their design saying ‘I hope you don’t chop off our heads’.”

The Lottery-funded nursery set up in 1989 runs fortnightly projects to make Kittens Preschool an exciting environment for the children.

The three and four-year-old youngsters were tasked with designing underwear Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth could wear during a fictitious visit to the school.

Mrs Watts said: “They are only three and four so we took them to the post office and asked how much it would cost to send a letter to Buckingham Palace – two weeks later, we had a reply.

“She sent a package with photos of her family, her dogs, her house and a letter thanking us for our efforts.

“We were thrilled.

“We are very proud of the children and their letter is on display in our foyer with some of the designs the children made.”

Kittens Preschool has been rated ‘Outstanding’ by education watchdog Ofsted.

Sharon added: “We pride ourselves on our fun approach to learning.”

The next topic is ‘The Wonder of Science’, so hopefully a letter from Stephen Hawking is in the post.