A lovely reply arrived from the UK today. I had written to The Queen in April for her 92nd Birthday. This reply took just over two months to arrive.
The envelope features the usual red postmark from the British Royals. But also has been double postmarked. This happens sometimes when the mail is taken from the Court Post office at Buckingham Palace to the Mount Pleasant Mail Centre, where most international mail is processed before being taken to Heathrow Airport.
The 2nd postmark says "Congratulations Benjamin Myers, Winner of the 2018 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction." This was a special week-long postmark to commemorate the awards.
Inside is a lovely personal letter from Mary Morrison, one of the Queen's Ladies in Waiting.
The Letter says:
Dear Miss Daly,The Queen wishes me to thank you for the message you sent on the occasion of Her Majesty's ninety-second birthday, together with your kind words regarding The Queen's Commonwealth Canopy Project, The Queen's Commonwealth Trust, the appointment of the now Duke of Sussex as President of the latter, and to the role of Commonwealth Youth Ambassador.
In another year of special events for The Royal Family, The Queen is most grateful for your thoughtfulness in writing as you did at this time.Yours Sincerely,Mary Morrison.
Lady-in-Waiting
I always love it when the reply makes specific mention to what I wrote in my letter. As the Queen's Birthday week was filled with numerous commonwealth events for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, I had mentioned the Queen & her family's work with the Commonwealth in my letter.
As the Queen's office is always very busy with all her birthday mail, not everyone who writes gets a personal reply like this. Some people get a generic form letter with no signature, others get a form letter signed by a Lady in Waiting with the person's name & the date filled in.
