Thursday 15 September 2022 03:53 AM Queen's death: Klara Djachenko breaks down getting 100th birthday letter trends now
A great-grandmother who survived famine as a child and escaped a Nazi camp broke down in tears on live TV as she received one of the Queen's last ever congratulatory 100th birthday letters.
Centenarian Klara Djachenko choked up when her daughter presented her with the special letter on Australia's Sunrise program on Thursday morning, in the wake of Her Majesty's death aged 96.
Ms Djachenko - who was born in Ukraine and fled to Australia with her family as a refugee - has held the Queen in high regard for most of her life.
In broken English, she said: 'When I see her (for the) first time in Australia and she looked at me in person and smiled (it gave me) a lot of love from her heart.'
It was a bittersweet birthday for Klara Djachenko (right) as she paid a special tribute to the late Queen. She's pictured with daughter Helene (left)
'From that moment, she stayed in my heart.'
Ms Djachenko is yet to read the the late Queen's message and will wait until she celebrates her birthday at a party attended by family and friends this weekend.
'I never expected to live to 100, I'm a very lucky person,' she said.
Ms Djachenko, who never smoked cigarettes or drank alcohol, said her secret to a long life was exercise and a healthy diet.
Daughter Helene Pisch said her mum was blown away to get a letter from the Queen instead of King Charles III.
'She said, 'if anything happened to the Queen, I don't want one from Charles,' she told the Sydney Morning Herald.
'She's followed [the Queen] since she
