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A charity has revealed the secret exchanges former US President George HW Bush had with a Filipino boy he sponsored over a 10-year period.

Bush had to use a pseudonym and the boy, seven when the sponsorship started, had no idea who he was.

Bush, under the name George Walker, helped to fund education and meals.

The boy, Timothy, learned his mentor's identity when he left the scheme at 17 and was stunned, the charity, Compassion International, said.

The charity revealed some of the letters to the Colorado Springs Gazette and later in an interview with CNN.

Bush, the 41st US president, died in November at the age of 94.

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"Dear Timothy, I want to be your new pen pal," Bush said in his first letter in 2002, using the pseudonym, a combination of his first and third names.

"I am an old man, 77 years old, but I love kids; and though we have not met I love you already," he wrote.

"I live in Texas - I will write you from time to time - Good Luck."