Former Strathallan pupil JJ Chalmers reveals Queen praised his Strictly Come Dancing performances in letter

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Broadcaster JJ Chalmers has revealed how honoured he felt when the Queen revealed she had watched him perform on Strictly Come Dancing.The former Strathallan pupil was stunned when Her Majesty told how she’d enjoyed his performance in a kind handwritten note to his father.Ex-Royal Marine and friend of Prince Harry, JJ was seriously injured in Afghanistan in 2011 in a blast that killed two of his colleagues.The 35-year-old, who served with Harry in Afghanistan, suffered a broken neck, lost two fingers, and almost lost both arms in the explosion.While undergoing some 30 operations over the following four years, the former military man won a medal in the 2014 Invictus Games, scooping a bronze for GB in non-amputee cycling.He also started a career in broadcasting, covering events including the death of Prince Philip in 2021, and taking part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2020.JJ was speaking to BBC’s Huw Edwards on Sunday amid ongoing coverage of the Queen’s death about the sweet note his dad John, one of Her Majesty’s chaplains for nearly a decade, had received.Discussing the connection to the Royal Family, JJ said: “It’s a remarkable thing to have a relationship with the Royal Family of my own, and then the relationship my father’s had for a very long time with the Queen, and some of the occasions that I’ve met her with my father.”He then revealed: “One of the loveliest things I’ve ever seen, following the death of her husband, my father had written to her and she returned a letter which was typed and had all the expected notes with it.“But at the bottom there was a handwritten message.“It said ‘I’ve just realised that the JJ Chalmers that I’ve been watching on the coverage of my husband’s funeral is the same JJ Chalmers that