Princess Anne & Sir Tim - Christmas Reply (2017)

A lovely reply arrived this week from Princess Anne and her husband, Sir Tim. I wrote to them Christmastmas and their 25th Wedding Anniversary earlier this month.

The letter is the typical reply from Princess Anne's office. It was written by Isabella Ward, Anne's Office Secretary. At the top of the page is Princess Anne's Coat of Arms.

The letter reads:

Dear Miss Daly,  

The Princess Royal & Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence have asked me to thank you for your letter dated 26th November with its kind message for the Christmas season and congratulations on their 25th wedding anniversary.  

Her Royal Highness and Sir Tim are grateful to you for thinking of them at this time of year and send you their best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.  

Yours Sincerely 

Mrs. Isabelle Ward

Office Secretary to HRH The Princess Royal 

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Hereditary Prince Alois & Hereditary Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein - Christmas Reply (2017)

This is the 2nd year I've written to the Liechtenstein Royals for Christmas. Their reply is the same as last years. A premade card with an embossed coat of arms on top. The "Dear Miss Daly," and "Sincerely," have been written in by a secretary and the card is signed Sophie Liechtenstein & Alois Liechtenstein.

The message is in German, Liechtenstein's official language. It translates to, "Blessed Christmas and all the best in the New Year." 

There has been some question about whether it's a real signature or if the Liechtenstein Royals use a printed on or autopen signature. It is quite clear now that they do use a printed-on signature for at least some of their replies. The signatures on this reply & last Christmas reply are identical. But it is possible the Liechtenstein Royals hand-sign some of the replies, as I have gotten different signatures on other replies.

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Queen Sofia of Spain - Birthday Reply (2017)

As you may know, the Spain Royals aren't really good about replying. They always don't reply. And when they do, they often only reply to about half the people who wrote. I have only gotten one other reply from Spain from King Juan Carlos & Queen Sofia last Christmas, despite numerous letters over the years.

So, when I wrote for Queen Sofia's 79th birthday last month, I wasn't expecting a reply.

Then this came in the mail. From the outside, it kind of looks like a piece of junk mail. But when you take a closer look it will sort of blow your mind, and make you feel like you've gone through a time portal.



It's a TELEGRAM!!!! A real-life sent, this century, telegram! I didn't even think telegrams still existed, but here one is. (This is the 1st Royal Telegram I've seen from this century. And my first piece of Royal Mail mailed from the USA.)

With this kind of telegram, the Spanish Palace sent the note electronically to the telegram company. The telegram company sent it to their Orlando, Flordia office, who printed it out and mailed it to me. (I guess this is a cheaper process than just mailing an international letter.)

Translated the message reads:

[Numbers & letters I assume are related to their Telegram Account] 

Palace of Zarzuela 

Mrs. Gertrude Alexandra Daly  

[My Address] 

As Chief of Protocol of the House of His Majesty the King & Her Majesty the Queen, Queen Sofia asks me to thank you for your kind words addressed to her on the occasion of her birthday. Warmest Regards, Alfredo Martinez Serrano

So bizarre to be getting a telegram. It lacks the polish of other Royal Replies, but this will definitely be one of my favorites because of its uniqueness.

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Hereditary Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein - Birthday Reply (2017)

I had written in October for Hereditary Princess Sophie's 50th birthday. Hereditary Prince/ss means the same thing as Crown Prince/ss; different countries use different titles. Some countries use a special title for the heir instead (e.g. Prince of Wales, Princess of Asturias, etc.).

The envelope has a simple front, with a postmark and actual stamps. 

This letter marks the 1 year anniversary of me writing to the Liechtenstein Royals. This is my 5th reply from them. All the previous replies featured the same Butterfly stamp from 2009.

Butterfly Stamp from previous replies

So, it is really great to see a new 2017 stamp being used & it's even more wonderful that it is Winter Themed. The stamp is called "Winterwald/Winter Forest" and was released on November 13th as part of their 2017 Christmas collection.

On the back of the envelope is the royal's address.

The card is their standard pre-made thank you card, with "Many thanks for your kind wishes" pre-printed on it. They then added the mention of her birthday, before Princess Sophie signed it.

I really like how they have this basic card they can use for anything, that they were then able to personalize for the event. I really love the rough edges and the embossed coat of arms. (You see a lot of embossed coat of arms on royal mail, but Liechtenstein has the nicest. The paper is really nice and thick, so the coat of armed is raised quite a bit.)

Princess Sophie signed her name, "Sophie Liechtenstein."

This is the same reply I got last year, except last year's had "Dear Miss Daly," handwritten as well.

It is a very lovely reply, made extra special by the signature. I would have loved a mention that it was her 50th Birthday. I think it is important to denote the milestones. 

*****

Tuesday is our recommended Send By Date for Christmas Cards/Letters to the Royals. If you haven't gotten yours out yet, don't worry. It's not a big deal. It just means your card/letter may not arrive by Christmas. (Depending on your Country, some of you living closer to the Royals, have some extra time to send out your cards.) But I would get them ours as soon as possible. 

Queen Elizabeth & Prince Philip - 70th Anniversary Reply (2017)

A lovely reply arrived today from the Queen & Prince Philip. I had written to them last month for their 70th Wedding Anniversary. 

Nothing special about the envelope, it is the usual from the British Royals. 

The back of the envelope features the Queen's coat of arms.

Inside is a very special tri-fold card. (The Queen's 90th Birthday card was similar, but had two panels instead of three.)

The front of the card features the Queen's Cypher, the distinctive EIIR. It stands for "Elizabeth II Regina." Regina is Latin for Queen. The front also features their years of marriage and a joint monogram. We don't often see joint monograms from the British Royals, so this is a real treat. (The Queen and Philip also have a joint monogram with their letters intertwined.)

The front of the card reads:

EIIR

70th Wedding Anniversary 

1947-2017

EP 

The inside features two photos and a message from Queen on behalf of herself and Philip. (You will notice the Queen refers to him as Prince Philip, not his title Duke of Edinburgh.) 

The photo on the left is from their wedding in 1947. Per royal tradition, it was taken in the throne room at Buckingham Palace.  

The photo on the right was taken by Julian Calder at Buckingham Palace in Early 2011. The photo is part of a special set of official photographs by Royal Images, the official library of official photos of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh. 

Royal Images is an organization that manages the set of official photos that are available for Royal's charities, government organizations, etc. to use for official things.

The card reads: 

Buckingham Palace 

Prince Philip and I thank you for your kind words on the occasion of our 70th Wedding Anniversary. 

Elizabeth R

I would have loved to see them use one of the official photographs released for their anniversary in the card. But those were taken in early November, and there likely wasn't enough time to have those printed on the card. 

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Prince Charles - Birthday Reply (2017)

Today I received a reply from Prince Charles for the letter I sent for his Birthday earlier this month. The reply is the usual we see from Clarence House, postcard-sized photo, with typed message on back.

The photo was taken by Mario Testino at Clarence House earlier this year. Mario has photographed practically everyone in the royal family, as well as numerous foreign royals. He took William & Kate's official engagements photos and Princess Charlotte's christening photos.

Clarence House had previously released a photo from this session for Duchess Camilla's 70th Birthday.

To mark HRH The Duchess of Cornwall's 70th Birthday, we are releasing this new portrait, taken by @MarioTestino. pic.twitter.com/tD05etWVl8

— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) July 16, 2017

The message on the back is similar to past year, but they've changed up the wording.

The card reads:

The Prince of Wales greatly appreciated the trouble you took to write on the occasion of his 69th birthday. His Royal Highness was so touched by your thoughtfulness and sends you his heartfelt gratitude and best wishes. 

With the card came a letter from Claudia Spens, Head of the Correspondence Section at Clarence House.

The letter reads: 

Dear Miss Daly,  

The Prince of Wales has asked me to thank you for your letter of 30th October.  

His Royal Highness is most grateful to you for taking the trouble to write as you did; he was particularly touched by your kind words of support and greatly appreciated your good wishes on the occasion of his 69th birthday.  

The Prince of Wales thoroughly enjoyed the Royal Autumn tour and was overwhelmed by the lovely welcome and warm reception he received from the countries he visited. 

His Royal Highness has asked me to send you the enclosed special picture along with his warmest thanks and very best wishes.  

Your sincerely, Claudia Spens

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Princess Elisabeth - Birthday Reply (2017)

Today I received a reply from Belgium. I had written to Princess Elisabeth for her 16th birthday earlier this month. I don't normally write for children's birthdays (except if they are one of my favorite like Prince George or Princess Charlotte). But this was sort of a milestone birthday, being her Sweet 16, and I was getting all emotional thinking about how she's almost an adult. It is hard to believe in 2 short years she will be 18 years old.

The reply is the typical thing you see from the Belgium Royals, a pre-made card and photo (although, they don't always send a photo). 

The message is in French. Translated the message reads:

Royal Palace of Brussels 

The wishes that you were kind enough to send to Her Royal Highness Princess Elisabeth on the occasion of her 16th birthday, have given her great pleasure. 

Their Majesties the King and the Queen thank you with all their heart for this beautiful gesture.

The photo is part of a set released for Princess Elisabeth's birthday. No details on the photo. But given the green glass door and plants, I assume this was taken at the Royal Greenhouses in Laeken.

The Royal Greenhouses in Laeken, is a favorite location for the Belgium Royal Family. The Greenhouses are located in the Royal Park at the Castle of Laeken, which is the Royal Family's home. (The Royal Palace of Brussels is just a working palace.) 

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Prince Guillaume and Princess Stephanie of Luxembourg - 5th Wedding Anniversary Reply (2017)

A lovely reply from Luxembourg arrived over the weekend!

I had written to Prince Guillaume and Princess Stéphanie, the Hereditary Grand Duke & Grand Duchess, last month for their 5th wedding anniversary. This reply came just under a month.

The envelope is the usual we see from Luxembourg. It is interesting to see the address placed so far over to the right.

More than half of my envelopes from Luxembourg have used this same car stamp from 2009. I assume they just have a huge stock of them. It is a shame, being one of the few royal families to use real stamps, that they don't show off more recent ones.

The postmark is for "Journee Mondiale du Diabète/World Diabetes Day" on November 14th.  The postmark runs from October 25th - November 20th this year. This same postmark has been used in past years to mark World Diabetes Day.

The back of the envelope features the blue Luxembourg Crown.

This reply is formatted a little different from the others I have received. The Luxembourg Royals don't have a consistent layout they use. The placement of the crown and the date changes. The color, font, size, alignment, and style of the message also changes.

(Retired Grand Duke Jean's replies are more consistent, but his mail is handled by a different office.)

It looks like the message got a bit mixed up in translation. They made a few mistakes:

• "Their Royal Highness" should be plural, "Their Royal Highnesses"
• It should be "wedding anniversary," not "wedding birthday"
• In French, the word for birthday and anniversary is the same, "Anniversaire." So, an understandable translation error. 
• There shouldn't be an "s" on "sincerely thanks you" 

I would think part of this mistake come from not having a standard layout of the message. It seems like whoever made this reply was a little rushed. 

If we look back at Henri & Maria Teresa's 35th Wedding Anniversary Reply from last year, you will see they didn't make the same mistakes. (The "s" on "thanks" is appropriate in this sentence.)

If you haven't already, check out our guide for Christmas 2017! I will probably start sending out my Christmas letters late next week. We recommend people have their Christmas letters and cards mailed out by December 5th. 

 

Duchess Camilla - Birthday Reply (2017)

This lovely reply came over the weekend. I had written to Duchess Camilla in July for her 70th birthday and as always she sent a very lovely reply.

The envelope is bigger than a normal letter-sized envelope because the reply is larger. It was sent by registered mail, so I had to be signed for, which I think makes it even more special. When Camilla to send replies that she has personally signed, they are always sent by registered mail.

One of the things I love about mail from Camilla's office (opposed to the normal correspondence section at Clarence House) is they write the address with each line indented. I think that is really nice, especially on a larger envelope.

The back of the envelope features Camilla's C monogram. The green monogram means this reply came from Birkhall, Charles & Camilla's residence in Scotland. Charles & Camilla were still up there on their summer holiday when this reply was sent.

(The Buckingham Palace postmark on the front, just means this reply was processed through the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace.)

A closer look at Camilla's monograms: the green is from Birkhall in Scotland and the blue is from Clarence House in London, England.

In the envelope was Camilla's usual birthday reply: a large photocard, with typed message on the back. This is double the size the normal photo replies we see from Clarence House.

The photo is from Charles & Camilla's tour of Europe earlier this year. This photo was taken at the Hofburg Palace on April 5 in Vienna, Austria. Hofburg Palace is the official residence and office of the President of Austria.

Camilla changes up the message on the back of the card every year. And I like that she makes them a little witty. The card has been hand-signed & personalized by Camilla.

The card reads:

Dear Gertrude,  

I can't beleive that 70 years have passed so quickly! Thank you very much for remembering my birthday.  

With best wishes, 

Camilla

This reply came just over 3.5 months after I had written, which is a longer wait time than usual, but not too uncommon. I have had longer response times from Clarence House. And of course, I'm quite willing to wait a while for such a lovely reply.

Our 2017 Guide to Writing to the Royal for Christmas will be out on Nov 1st.

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Prince Harry - Birthday Reply (2017)

I received a reply today from the UK. I had written to Prince Harry last month for his 33rd Birthday. I got a letter instead of the usual photo reply, which happened last year as well.

The letter reads:

Dear Miss Daly, 

Prince Harry has asked me to thank you for your incredibly thoughtful letter of 13th September.  

His Royal Highness was immensely touched by your kind words of support and he greatly appreciated the generous nature of your comments regarding the work he undertakes both with mental health charities and the Invictus Games Foundation.  

Although unable to reply to you presonally, Prince Harry was most greteful that you should take the trouble to write and has asked me to send you his warmst thanks for your letter and his sincerest best wishes.

Yours Sincerely,
Claudia Spens

It's always nice to get a thoughtful letter, mentioning specific things I wrote about.

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Prince William & Duchess Kate - 3rd Pregnancy Reply (2017)

I had written to the Cambridges last month to congratulate them on the wonderful news that they are expecting their 3rd child! The reply is their usual postcard size photo with typed message on the back.

The photo is from a year ago on the Cambridge's Tour of Canada. It is the same photo as they used in their 2016 Christmas reply, except the Christmas reply did not have a white border.

The message reads:

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were touched by your kind words following the happy news that they are expecting their third child. It really was most thoughtful of you and Their Royal Highnesses send you their warmest thanks and best wishes. 

The message is the same as their reply for the announcement of their 2nd pregnancy, except for the obvious change of 2nd child to 3rd.

I can't wait for the new little Cambridge Addition!!!

Queen Paola of Belgium - 80th Birthday Reply (2017)

I had written to Queen Paola at the end of August for her 80th birthday on September 11th.

This reply came today, a month after her birthday. It is a flat card. On one side is a copy of a handwritten note. On the other side is a picture.

The message is in French, one of Belgium's official languages. Roughly translated the note says:

"Belvedére (Castle) 

I want to thank you personally for the well-wishes you have sent on the occasion of my 80th birthday and tell you they have touched me very deeply.  

Paola   

Sept. 2017"

It's common for Queen Paola to write a hand-written message, that is then copied and printed on reply cards. This allows her to send a very lovely, personal response without having to hand-write every single reply.

On the front of the card is a picture from Queen Paola's 80th birthday celebrations in June. The Royal Family and guests gathered for a special 80th birthday musical performance in support of three of Paola's charities: the Queen Paola Foundation, the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, and Missing Children Europe.

The photo is a nice size. It about as big as two of the typical photo replies from the Cambridges.

 I have numbered the Royals in order of the family tree:

• Queen Paola (1) & King Albert (2)
• King Philippe (3) & Queen Mathilde (4)
• Princess Elisabeth (5)
• Prince Gabriel (6)
• Prince Emmanuel (7)
• Princess Eléonore (8)
• Princess Astrid (9) & Prince Lorenz (10)
• Prince Amedeo (11) & Princess Elisabetta (12)
• Archduchess Anna (13)
• Princess Maria Laura (did not attend)
• Prince Joachim (14)
• Princess Luisa Maria (15)
• Princess Laetitia Maria (16)
• Prince Laurent (arrived late, not pictured) & Princess Claire (17)
• Princess Louise (18)
• Prince Nicolas & Prince Aymeric (19, one of them is behind Queen Paola)

In my letter for Queen Paola's birthday, I also sent my condolences for the death of her brother, Don Antonello Ruffo di Calabria, who passed away on August 24th.

I received a 2nd reply thanking me for sending my condolences. This reply arrived about a week and a half before the birthday reply.

The reply came in a very lovely envelope, which has a purple lining on the inside. Not all of Queen Paola's replies come in such a lovely envelope. 

Inside was a note from Queen Paola, thanking me for sending my condolences for the death of her brother.

The message is in again French and translates to:

Belvédère (Castle) 

September 2017 

Her Majesty Queen Paola was very touched by the expressions of sympathy you have shown following the death of her brother, Don Antonello Ruffo di Calabria, and expresses her sincere thanks.

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Prince Hans Adams & Princess Marie of Liechtenstein - 50th Wedding Reply (2017)

I received this reply from Liechtenstein. I have written to Prince Hans-Adams II & Princess Marie in July for their 50th (Golden) Wedding Anniversary! Prince Hans-Adams is the monarch of Liechtenstein. But he retired in 2004 and made his son, Prince Alois, regent.

This reply came just over 2 months after I wrote. That's a pretty normal response time for royal mail in general. But it's the longest wait time I've ever had for a reply from Liechtenstein.

The front of the envelope is the usual from the Liechtenstein Royals. 

The back of the envelope says "Schloss Vaduz FL-9490" the address of the Palace. 

Inside is a flat card. I 

The card has a textured edge. I placed the card on orange paper when I scanned, it so that you can see the edge. What you can't see all that well is the embossed coat of arms at the top of the card. 

The card says:

Many thanks for your kind wishes

on the occasion of our 

Golden Wedding Anniversary

Marie Liechtenstein      Hans Adams Liechtenstein

You may notice that the card uses two different fonts.  The Liechtenstein Royals have pre-made cards that just say "Many thanks for your kind wishes." These are able to be used for almost any event. The 2nd & 3rd line were added later to make this card specific for their 50th wedding anniversary. 

The signatures appear to be real as they differ from the signatures I have on other cards from them. 

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Princess Beatrice - Birthday Reply (2017)

A lovely reply arrived today from the UK.  I had written to Princess Beatrice of York for her 29th Birthday earlier this month. The envelope and letter are pretty standard of what we see from the Duke of York's office. 

The letter reads: 

Dear Miss Daly, 

Princess Beatrice of York has asked me to thank you for your kind birthday message. Her Royal Highness is very grateful to you for thinking of her on this occasion.  

Princess Beatrice of York sends you her best wishes.  

Yours sincerely,  

Amanda Thirsk LVO 

Private Secretary to The Duke of York 

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Prince William - Birthday Reply (2017)

Another piece of Royal Mail arrived earlier this week! This time from the UK. 

The envelope is standard for the UK Royals. What is interesting is this envelope has two postmarks. 

The red postmark is the iconic one from the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace. This is where all of the London Royal office's have their mail franked (i.e. stamped with postage and postmark). 

The black postmark was added when the mail was taken to the Mount Pleasant Post Office in London. The postmarks reads: "Royal Mail proudly supports 30 years of Payroll Giving." This was a special week only (July 10-15th) postmark to celebrate the 30th anniversary. 

 "Payroll Giving allows employees to give to charity straight from their wages or pension without paying tax on it. [...] Over the years, Royal Mail employees have raised over £58 million supporting over 1,400 charities." - Royal Mail in press releases on the 30th Anniversary Postmark 

For more on the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace and the different Royal Postmarks

Inside the envelope is a reply to the letter I sent to Prince William for his birthday. I received both the typical postcard size photo and a letter. 

The letter is written by Claudia Spens, who is head of the correspondence section at Clarence House. The stationary says Kensington Palace, which is the name of William, Kate & Harry's office. But their mail from the public is handled by Clarence House. 

The letter is dated June 29th, but the envelope is postmarked July 11th, two weeks later. So, this was either mistaken dated, or it accidentally sat around for 2 weeks, which happens. Prince Andrew's office is particularly prone to letting stuff sit around for a few days before being sent out.  

The letter says:

Dear Miss Daly, 

The Duke of Cambridge has asked me to thank you for your thoughtful letter of 5th June.  

His Royal Highness is grateful to you for your kinds words of support regarding his relocation to London and he appreciated the generous nature of your comments regarding the work he undertakes as part of his official duty as a member of The Royal Family.  

Although unable to reply personally, The Duke of Cambridge was touched that you should take the trouble to write as you did, and has asked me to send you his wamest thanks and sincerest best wishes.  

Yours Sincerely,  

Claudia Spens

I always find it very touching to get a personal letter in reply. It's clear Miss Spens had read my letter.

This also mark's the 1st anniversary of the Black Kensington Palace Stationary. I first saw it with  William's birthday reply last year. I'm not a huge fan, but it is likely much easier on Clarence House to have one stationary for William, Kate and Harry, then 3 personal ones. I have even seen letters from the Private Secretaries at Kensington Palace use this black stationery. 

This reply came a little later than last years, but 3 months earlier than 2015's. So a good response time.

The photo card is the normal size, but it what is interesting is it has a white border around the picture. We've seen this before with Camilla's large photo cards, and more recently on the normal size Christmas reply from Charles & Camilla. I understand why on the large cards you want a bit of a border, and it works well. But on such a small picture as this, I don't see why it is needed.

The photo was taken in April by Norman Jean Roy for British GQ. You can read Prince William's British GQ interview here.

The back of the card has the same sort of message as usual. But it is nice to see new wording. I particularly like it when the card mentions which birthday. Because it doesn't have a date on it, it could be hard a few years from now to just look at the picture and tell which birthday this was from. 

The card says:

The Duke of Cambridge greatly appreciated the kind message you sent on the occasion of his 35th birthday. 

His Royal Highness is touched you took the trouble to do this and sends his warmest thanks and best wishes. 

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Queen Margrethe & Prince Henrik - 50th Wedding Anniversary Reply

I got this reply at the beginning of the month. Sorry, I've been a bit lazy about making a post. I had written to Queen Margrethe & Prince Henrik for their 50th wedding anniversary, last month. 

It's a typical reply from Queen Margrethe. It's a form letter. They filled in my name, and which ever aide-de-camp was working that day signed it. 

Obviously, Prince Henrik is in our thoughts right now as he was hospitalized on Thursday with a leg infection from a wound. Henrik had Angioplasty surgery on Monday. The surgery helped clear a blocked artery, which was probably making the infection a lot worse. Prince Henrik is expected to be released tomorrow (Wednesday).

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Prince Philip - Birthday Replies (2017)

A lovely reply arrived from the UK this week. I wrote to Prince Philip at the beginning of the month for his 96th Birthday. This lovely reply came on Thursday, so it was very quick.

The letter is written by Captian Ben Tracey, who is Prince Philip's new Assistant Equerry. Prince Philip's old Assistant Equerry, Captain Frederick Moynan, just finished up his 2 year service.

Equerries are officers in the Armed Forces who serve in a Royal's household. Equerries often help coordinate engagements, travel, etc.  The position of Equerry for a Royal will often rotate through the different branches of the Armed Forces.

The reply is very similar to Prince Philip's previous birthday replies, but the message has slightly different wording each year. 

The letter says: 

Buckingham Palace

June, 2017

Prince Philip has asked me to say that he greatly appreciated your kind message for his birthday. 

Ben Tracey

Assistant Equerry to H.R.H The Duke of Edinburgh. 

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Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark - Birthday Reply (2017)

I received this reply recently. I had written in May for Crown Prince Frederik's 49th Birthday. The reply is exactly the same as previous years.

More Replies from Crown Prince Family

Condolences Reply for Prince Richard von Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (2017)

I received a reply from Germany today. Prince Richard von Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg passed away in March at age 82. I had written to his family, to express my condolences. 

Prince Richard was married to Princess Benedikte of Denmark (Queen Margrethe's sister). So, he was both an extended member of the Denmark Royal Family, as well as the head of Royal Family of the former monarchy of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg.

This is the first reply I have gotten from a former monarchy. Although I will file it under Denmark in my collection. 

The envelope features a picture of the Castle of Berleburg, which is the family's residence. Prince Richard passed away at the castle, and his funeral was held at the castle church. 

The reply is a lovely tri-fold card.

The front of the card features a lovely picture of Richard. The picture was taken in the forest near the family home. 

The back of the card features Prince Richard's coat of arms, date of birth & death, and his full name: 

Richard Casimir Karl August Robert Konstantin

Prince von Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg,

6th ruler of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg,

Count of Sayn, Lord of Homburg, Vallendar,

Neumagen and Neuenhemsbach

29th October 1934 - 13th March 2017

The inside has a message from his wife and children in 3 languages: English, German and Danish. 

The message reads: 

Your comforting words, the beautifal wreaths and flowers have touched and supported us greately in our [grief] over my husband's and or father's passing. We thank you wholeheartedly for your warm sympathy. 

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