diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index effe3e9..3be809d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 Yii1 Symfony Mailer extension
 =============================
 
+1.0.1 Under Development
+-----------------------
+
+- Enh: Added passing email message instance via `$_message` context variable to the template (klimov-paul)
+- Enh: Added passing template context variables to the layout template (klimov-paul)
+
+
 1.0.0, May 10, 2024
 -------------------
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 03d0146..9ea4586 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -149,6 +149,29 @@ return [
 ];
 ```
 
+Inside the template file the following variables are always accessible:
+
+- `$this` - reference to `\yii1tech\mailer\View` instance.
+- `$_message` - reference to email message instance, which is rendered.
+
+Template example:
+
+```php
+<?php
+/**
+ * @var $this \yii1tech\mailer\View
+ * @var $_message \yii1tech\mailer\TemplatedEmail
+ * @var $name string
+ */
+ 
+$_message->subject('Email subject defined within the template');
+
+$this->layout = 'particular-layout';
+?>
+<h1>Greetings</h1>
+<p>Context var "name" = <?php echo CHtml::encode($name) ?></p>
+```
+
 
 ### Writing unit tests <span id="writing-unit-tests"></span>
 
diff --git a/src/Mailer.php b/src/Mailer.php
index 74149d7..9b6c3f4 100644
--- a/src/Mailer.php
+++ b/src/Mailer.php
@@ -263,13 +263,21 @@ protected function render(RawMessage $message): RawMessage
         }
 
         if (($textTemplate = $message->getTextTemplate()) !== null) {
-            $text = $this->getView()->render($textTemplate, $message->getContext(), $message->getLocale());
+            $text = $this->getView()->render(
+                $textTemplate,
+                array_merge($message->getContext(), ['_message' => $message]),
+                $message->getLocale()
+            );
 
             $message->text($text);
         }
 
         if (($htmlTemplate = $message->getHtmlTemplate()) !== null) {
-            $html = $this->getView()->render($htmlTemplate, $message->getContext(), $message->getLocale());
+            $html = $this->getView()->render(
+                $htmlTemplate,
+                array_merge($message->getContext(), ['_message' => $message]),
+                $message->getLocale()
+            );
 
             $message->html($html);
         }
diff --git a/src/View.php b/src/View.php
index a74da97..b6d6fbc 100644
--- a/src/View.php
+++ b/src/View.php
@@ -184,7 +184,11 @@ public function render(string $view, ?array $data = null, ?string $locale = null
             $content = $this->renderPartial($view, $data, true);
 
             if (!empty($this->layout)) {
-                $content = $this->renderPartial($this->layout, ['content' => $content], true);
+                $content = $this->renderPartial(
+                    $this->layout,
+                    array_merge((array) $data, ['content' => $content]),
+                    true
+                );
             }
         } catch (\Throwable $e) {
             throw $e;
diff --git a/tests/MailerTest.php b/tests/MailerTest.php
index 32d8aae..3cb7376 100644
--- a/tests/MailerTest.php
+++ b/tests/MailerTest.php
@@ -122,6 +122,9 @@ public function testRender(): void
         $mailer = Yii::createComponent([
             'class' => Mailer::class,
             'transport' => $transport,
+            'view' => [
+                'layout' => 'layout',
+            ],
         ]);
 
         $email = (new TemplatedEmail())
@@ -140,5 +143,7 @@ public function testRender(): void
 
         $this->assertStringContainsString('Name = John Doe', $sentMessage->getTextBody());
         $this->assertStringContainsString('Name = John Doe', $sentMessage->getHtmlBody());
+        $this->assertStringContainsString('Subject = Test subject', $sentMessage->getHtmlBody());
+        $this->assertStringContainsString('Layout-Subject = Test subject', $sentMessage->getHtmlBody());
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/views/mail/layout.php b/tests/views/mail/layout.php
index 06c1fe3..96b9f43 100644
--- a/tests/views/mail/layout.php
+++ b/tests/views/mail/layout.php
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 <?php
 /**
  * @var $this \yii1tech\mailer\View
+ * @var $_message \yii1tech\mailer\TemplatedEmail|null
+ * @var $content string
  */
 ?>
 <!--Header-->
 <?php echo $content; ?>
 Clip = <?php echo $this->getClips()->itemAt('test-clip') ?>
+Layout-Subject = <?php echo isset($_message) ? $_message->getSubject() : ''; ?>
 <!--Footer-->
diff --git a/tests/views/mail/plain.php b/tests/views/mail/plain.php
index c3f85a6..f895866 100644
--- a/tests/views/mail/plain.php
+++ b/tests/views/mail/plain.php
@@ -1,2 +1,9 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * @var $this \yii1tech\mailer\View
+ * @var $_message \yii1tech\mailer\TemplatedEmail|null
+ */
+?>
 Test plain mail template
 Name = <?php echo $name; ?>
+Subject = <?php echo isset($_message) ? $_message->getSubject() : ''; ?>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/views/mail/switch.php b/tests/views/mail/switch.php
index 1116c2e..428d23b 100644
--- a/tests/views/mail/switch.php
+++ b/tests/views/mail/switch.php
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 <?php
 /**
  * @var $this \yii1tech\mailer\View
+ * @var $name string
  */
 
 $this->layout = 'layout';