It's - pure and simple - a plot point. Hamlet has been sent by Claudius to England, and, with exceptional brevity, Shakespeare has Horatio read out a letter from Hamlet.
Thematically, I don't really think it has a huge "function", other than to return Hamlet to Denmark ready for Ophelia's funeral, the duel, and all the deaths at the end of the play: note too the way the play "cuts" forward - in the letter, Horatio is told to deliver several letters to Claudius and to come immediately to Hamlet's side, and the next time we see the two of them, they are reunited.
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