BUCKINGHAM PALACE has expressed sympathy with the families of 11 Britons murdered last year by terrorists in Egypt after they complained they had been abandoned and ignored by the government.

The Queen failed to send letters of condolence because of bungles by officials working for Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, whose department has special responsibility for victims of disasters.

In unusually frank language, the palace wrote that it had been told by Jowell’s office that she “took the omission very seriously” and was determined that other tragedies would be “managed better in future”.

The letter was sent from Sandringham House, the Queen’s winter residence, to a relative of one of those killed last July by Al-Qaeda suicide bombers at Sharm el-Sheikh, the resort on the Red Sea. It said there had been similar complaints from families affected by July’s London bombs.

Edward Young, the Queen’s assistant private secretary, wrote: “I am sorry not to have responded earlier, and may I begin by offering you my deepest sympathy for the loss that you have suffered.”

He continued: “I am also sorry that you feel you have not received the support from government that you would expect to at such a dreadful time.”

Young added: “I understand from the secretary of state’s office that families affected by incidents in both London and Sharm el-Sheikh have made strong representations about improving government communications with those most affected and that the secretary of state is determined that this has to be managed better in the future.”

His letter was addressed to Trevor Lakin, whose son Jeremy, 28, died at Sharm el-Sheikh. Lakin had complained to the Palace after discovering that since March last year Jowell’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), has had formal responsibility for advising the royal family when it should write letters of condolence after natural disasters and terrorist outrages.

The families of the 22 Britons who died in the Bali attacks in 2002 all received personal letters of condolence from the Prince of Wales.

The Queen has yet to write to the families of the Sharm el-Sheikh victims expressing her formal condolences but Lakin said the letter from her private office provided some comfort. “This is as close to an apology as we are likely to get,” he said.

It is not the first time ministers and officials involved in dealing with the Egypt attacks have bungled. In December, Paul Sizeland, the director of consular services at the Foreign Office, apologised after Whitehall failed to pass on a letter from the Egyptian government offering to provide the victims’ families with full support.

Yasmin Waljee, a solicitor at Lovells, who is representing some of the victims of the London and Sharm el-Sheikh bombings, said ministers had been “completely inert” in dealing with their grievances.

She said the Home Office had suggested the families take legal action against the perpetrators of the attacks. “It’s a little crass to suggest the families try to sue Al-Qaeda. Are we supposed to hunt down Osama Bin Laden in his cave in Afghanistan and serve a writ on him?” Rachel North, who was injured in the London bombs, yesterday joined the criticism of the DCMS. “They need to improve victim’s aftercare,” she said.

The Foreign Office has also been censured in a report by the National Audit Office for its response to the needs of the survivors and the relatives of the 144 Britons who died in the tsunami on Boxing Day, 2004.

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