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.