Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Princess Adrienne - Birth Reply (2018)

An adorable little surprise arrived today from Sweden! I had written to Princess Madeleine and Chris O'Neil in March to send them my deepest congratulations on the birth of their daughter, Princess Adrienne.

As I had written for all the Swedish Royal Baby births since Prince Nicolas and never received a reply, I wasn't expecting anything this time.

But of course, I'm always happy to be surprised.

The envelope is just a simple little thing, with a sticker for the postmark and address. The envelope usually features the Swedish royal coat of arms, but not this time.


Inside was a lovely little card, similar to the one I received for Prince Gabriel's Christening, but this doesn't have a glossy finish. The front of the card features Madeleine & Chris's joint monogram.



Inside is a message from the couple with their signatures printed on. (See back of card for translation.)


The inside also features a lovely photo of Princess Adrienne with Madeleine, with the Princess's date of birth at the bottom, March 9th, 2018.


The back of the card has an English translation of the message glued to the card. 


The message reads: 
From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to thank you for the kindness and thoughtfulness that you have shown us since the birth of Adrienne. 

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Grand Duke Henri & Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg - Birthday Reply (2018)

I sent two letters to Luxembourg recently, one for Grand Duchess Maria Teresa's birthday in March and one for Grand Duke Henri's birthday in April.


The replies came in the usual sort of envelope. But what was most interesting is the stamps are from 2002 & 2005, so they are both over a decade old. But was it really cool is they are actually the old stamps you have to lick. Most countries stopped making these kinds of stamps around 2008.



It also interesting to see that the two sets of stamps are for different amounts. I looked it up and the price to mail sometime like this from Luxembourg to USA is 1,30€, so they overpaid with both replies. I assume they were just trying to use up their old stamps and weren't too worried about overpaying.

Inside was the typical reply from Luxembourg, a flat card, with a pre-made message for the occasion. Before I've always gotten an English reply from Luxembourg. I assume this time they just ran out of the English replies, so they had to use one of the others. Luxembourg has three official languages: Luxembourgish, French, & German.

Grand Duke Henri's reply is in French.



Translated the card reads:
Luxembourg, 16th April 2018
His Royal Highness the Grand Duke warmly thanks you for the kind wishes on the occasion of his birthday.
This attention gave him great pleasure.


Grand Duchess Maria Teresa's Reply is in Luxembourgish. 


Translated the card reads:
Luxembourg, 22nd March 2018

Your dear birthday wishes have given me much joy and touched me deeply.

I thank you very much with all my heart.

Maria Teresa 

You will notice in addition to being in different languages, the two replies are formatted a little differently (color, 1st person vs. 3rd person, title vs. name, etc.). That is just the Luxembourg Royals. While they always reply with a flat card, they do not have a consistent format or style.

You will notice both replies are dated with the Royal's birthday.

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Queen Margrethe of Denmark - Birthday Reply (2018)

A reply arrived earlier this week from Denmark. I had written to Queen Margrethe for her 78th Birthday last month.


The reply is the typical from Queen Margrethe, a form letter written by Aide-de-camp. The message is the same as last year.


The Letter says: 

Dear Miss Gertrude Daly
Her Majesty the Queen has asked me to express to you Her sincere thanks for your kind greetings  on the occasion of Her Majesty's birthday. 

Yours Sincerely, 
[Signature]
Aide-de-camp