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

This reply arrived a while ago from Luxembourg. I had written to Grand Duke Henri & Grand Duchess Maria Teresa in December to wish them a Merry Christmas.

The envelope is the usual from the Luxembourg Royal Family. It's interesting to see that this envelope didn't get postmarked.

The reply is the usual from the couple, a premade card for the occasion. The message and format are different than past years.

The card says:

Luxembourg Christmas 2018 

Their Royal Highnesses the Grand duke and the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, very touched by your king greeting, send you their most heartfelt wishes for Xmas and the New Year. 

---

I am still waiting on quite a few Christmas replies. I'm hoping for at least 4 more. And no, it's not too late to be getting Christmas replies. Sure, there are some royals who don't reply. But there are many who are just get so much mail it takes them till March or later to send out all their Christmas replies. So, you wrote to someone who pretty much always replies, don't lose hope.

It's perfectly normal to still be getting Christmas replies in March.

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King Juan Carlos & Queen Sofia of Spain - Christmas Reply (2018)

A lovely reply arrived over the weekend from Spain. I had written to King Juan Carlos & Queen Sofia in early December to wish them a Merry Christmas.

The envelope is the usual from the couple. 

Inside is a letter from King Juan Carlos's Head Secretariat, Alfonso Sanz Portolés. The letter is pretty identical to the ones I've received for Christmas from the couple in past years, although the message is slightly different. 

The letter reads:

Household of H.M. The King  

The Head Secretariat of H.M. King Juan Carlos

Palace of Zarzuela (The couple's official residence)

January 30th, 2019 

Ms. Gertrude Alexandra Daly(My Address) 

The Head Secretariat of H.M. King Juan Carlos, 

Their Majesties King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, have appreciated very much the kind Christmas greeting that they have received, and they ask me to send you their sincere gratitude along with their best wishes for the new year. 

I take this opportunity to wish you a prosperous 2019. 

Alfonso Sanz Portolés

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Queen Margrethe of Denmark - Christmas Reply (2018)

A lovely reply arrived today from Denmark. I had written to Queen Margrethe in late November to wish her a Merry Christmas.

The envelope is the usual from Queen Margrethe.





The letter is pretty identical to last years reply. It's a basic form letter that the Aide-de-camp filled in with my name and the date before signing.

The letter reads: 

Dear Miss Daly, 

Her Majesty the Queen has asked me to thank you for your kind Christmas and New Year's greetings. 

Sincerely yours, 

[Signature]

Aide-de-camp 

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Prince Charles & Duchess Camilla - Christmas Reply (2018)

A lovely reply arrived today from the UK. I had written to Prince Charles & Duchess Camilla in December for Christmas. Besides my reply from Duchess Sarah, this is my first reply from the British Royals for Christmas 2018.

The envelope is the usual from the British Royals, with the red postmark from the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace.

The back of the envelope feature's the Prince of Wales Feathers. 

Inside is a photocard and a letter from Claudia Spens. 

For most occasions, Clarence House sends out a pre-made, postcard size photocard. This reply is my first with the redesign.

The front looks the same as before and features a photo of the couple at Clarence House as they were leaving for Prince Charle's 70th birthday party. The photo was taken by Chris Jackson, a royal photographer who is particularly close to the Royal Family. 

The one difference with the front in the redesign is the photo no longer has a glossy finish.  

The back of the card features the more noticeable change in the redesign. The card now features the Prince of Wales feathers at the top. The font is also smaller and not italicized. The card is on thinner cardstock that is slightly smaller than before. (More on the Evolution of Charles & Camilla's photocard.)

The thinner paper and lack of glossy front, makes me think this redesign was a cost-cutting measure. Clarence House received 40-80 thousand letters & cards each year. So, a little bit saved on each reply could equal hundreds or thousands of dollars. 

We've seen other cost-cutting measures from Clarence House over the years, such as the addition of the white border in 2017 to the postcard size replies. Cards with a white border use 30% less ink (based on the surface area of the couple's 2017 Christmas card).

The back of the card reads:  

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall greatly appreciated your Christmas message and would like to thank you for your kind thoughts. 

Their Royal Highnesses send you their best wishes for a very New Year. 

The letter reads: 

29th January, 2019

Dear Miss Daly, 

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall have asked me to thank you for your letter of 8th December. I apologise for the delay in replying to you. We have been overwhelmed by the thousands of letters and cards received recently.  

Their Royal Highnesses are grateful to you for taking the trouble to write as you did, they were touched by your kind words of support for them and their family.  

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall appreciated your thoughtful message sent at Christmas and have asked me to send you the enclosed card along with their very best wishes for the new year.

Yours sincerely,  

Claudia Spens

I know a lot of you are still waiting on replies from Clarence House for a number of events for 2018. they are very, very, very busy. I know they are still working on sending out replies for the Sussex's Wedding and other summer events. I have about 5 replies I'm still waiting on from them. And I think the photocard re-design is part of what caused the delay.

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Evolution of Charles & Camilla's Postcard-Size Photocard

Clarence House's standard reply is, for many events, a postcard-size photocard. This post charts the evolution of the postcard-size photocard for Prince Charles & Duchess Camilla.

I attribute the redesigns mainly to cost-cutting measures. Clarence House received 40-80 thousand letters & cards each year. So, a little bit saved on each reply could equal hundreds or thousands of dollars. 

Note: Each version's photocards could be vertical or horizontal depending on the photo used.

Version #1 (2014-2016)

Version #1 Front

Version #1 Back

• Glossy finish on photo
• Typed message on back in italics

Version #2 (2017-2018)

Version #2 Front

Version #2 Back

• Same as Version #1 except: 
• Added white border around the photo
• (Uses 20%-30% less ink)

Version #3 (2019-present)

Version #3 front

Version #3 Back

• Same as Version #2, except
• Added Prince of Wales feathers on back
• Smaller font 
• Slightly smaller card (about 1mm)
• Thinner and lighter cardstock
• No glossy finish on photo

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Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg - Christmas (2018) & Birthday (2019) Reply

A lovely reply arrived today from Luxembourg. I had written to Grand Duke Jean in December to wish him a Merry Christmas. As his birthday is in early January, I also mentioned his birthday in my letter.

The envelope is the usual from the Luxembourg Royals.

The one big difference between Grand Duke Jean & the rest of the Luxembourg Royals, is his envelopes feature the name of his residence "Château de Fischbach" under the blue crown. 

Inside is two cards, one for Christmas & one of the Grand Duke's birthday. The two cards are the same, except for different wording. Last year, when I wrote, I got one card that mentioned both Christmas & Grand Duke Jean's birthday. 

The Christmas reply reads: 

Château de Fischbach

Luxembourg 

January 2019

His Royal Highness Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, very touched by your kind greetings, sends you His most heartfelt wishes for the New Year. 

The birthday reply reads: 

Château de Fischbach

Luxembourg 

January 2019

Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg thanks you for your kind birthday wishes, which were much appreciated.  

I rather like that they didn't use the same wording for both cards. It is nice to have some variety in the message. But it is interesting to note that one of the replies includes "His Royal Highness" in the Grand Duke's name and the other doesn't.

Grand Duke Jean's office has always been fairly consistent about the format of their replies. Always the same placement of the crown, date, message. Always the same font, color, size, spacing, alignment, etc. The message is usually worded about the same.

Whereas the rest of the Luxembourg mail is inconsistent. There is no strict template. You will see a lot of differences in cards.

I think the reason, Grand Duke Jean's replies are more consistent, and the others aren't, is because his mail is answered by his staff at Château de Fischbach. Whereas The Grand Duke, Grand Duchess & their children's mail is answered at Palais Grand-Ducal, possibly by a general correspondence office.

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King Felipe & Queen Letizia of Spain - Christmas Reply (2018)

A lovely reply arrived today from Spain. I had written to King Felipe & Queen Letizia to wish them a Merry Christmas.

This is the 4th time I had written to the couple for Christmas, but only the 2nd time I've gotten a Christmas reply from them.

The envelope is usual, and feature's the king's coat of arms on the back.

Inside it the couple's Christmas card. It is pretty much the same as last year, with a few differences.

The front of the card features the king's coat of arms, along with a red border. The card is horizontal and is printed on different cardstock than last year. The red ink is also darker.

The inside of the card features a lovely photo of the family during a visit to Asturias, Spain in 2018. (L-R: King Felipe, Princess Sofia, Princess Leonor,  Queen Letizia.) Princess Leonor, as heir to the throne, holds the title Princess of Asturias. This was her first official visit to the region.

The inside of the card also features a message from the family. The text in black is handwritten, I believe by King Felipe, along with his family's signatures. They would have written the message & signed it once and then it was scanned and printed on all the cards. There is also a version of the card with the handwritten message in Spanish.  

The message reads:

Thank you very much for your good wishes. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2019. 

With great affection, 

Felipe R., Letizia R.

Leonor Princess of Asturias, Sofia Infanta (Princess) of Spain

Note: R. is an abbreviation of the Latin word Rex (King) or Regina (Queen)

The back of the card features the couple's joint monogram.

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Prince Guillaume & Princess Stéphanie of Luxembourg - Christmas Reply (2018)

A lovely reply arrived yesterday from Luxembourg. I had written to Prince Guillaume & Princess Stéphanie to wish them a Merry Christmas.

I have written to the couple before, but this was the first time for Christmas. In the past, I had just written to Grand Duke & Grand Duchess, and Grand Duke Jean for Christmas.

The envelope is pretty typical of the Luxembourg Royals.

The back of the envelope features the usual blue crown.

Inside is a handmade Christmas card made by the Foundations Autisme Luxembourg, which Grand Duchess Maria Teresa is patron of. The front features a lovely candle design along with the message "Merry Christmas" in Luxembourgish.

The card is made of heavy cardstock and the design on the front is layered, so the card has a nice weight and texture.

The inside of the card is blank. The charity did this to allow people to write in their own message. Guillaume & Stéphanie instead included an insert, as the layer design on the front of the card would have prevented them from printing their message directly inside the card. 

The insert reads: 

Their Royal Highness the Hereditary Grand Duke & the Hereditary Grand Duchess wish to thank you for your kind greetings and send you their best wishes for the New Year.  

January 2019

The back of the card is blank, except for a stick from the charity saying: 

Made by people with autism

Foundation Autisme Luxembourg

Autisme@fal.lu

(+352) 269 111-1

We carry all types of cards.

I've gotten a good number of Christmas Replies so far, but I'm still waiting on about half of them. You can see the ones I've gotten so far for Christmas 2018 here. 

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Writing to the Royals Q&A - February (2019)

As always post your questions about Writing to the Royal, and we will get to them as soon as possible. If you have questions about the royals in general check out our main site.

Question 1a: Which photo will be sent in thank you cards for Christmas wishes by TRH The Duke and Duchess of Sussex?

Answer: They are using the photo of Harry & Meghan during their Australia tour, when Harry is giving a speech and Meghan is holding the umbrella for him. 

Question 1b: Isn't this picture sent as a thank-you for gratitude to HRH The Duchess of Sussex for her pregnancy?

Answer: Yes, there are using the same photo for both the Christmas Reply and Meghan's pregnancy reply. It's very common for Clarence House to reuse photos for multiple events. I know both Charlotte & Louie's pregnancy replies featured repeat photos as well. 

Question 2a: What do you think about new royal reply (cards) from Clarence House?

Answer: I don't really like it, the reply isn't as nice as it once was. It was a cost-cutting measure. They switched to a cheaper, thinner cardstock and got rid of the glossy front. I do like how they added the Prince of Wales feathers and Kensington Palace black crown to the back, but I feel like that was really just to distract us from the switch to cheaper paper.

I have a post on our blog about the evolution of Charles & Camilla's photo reply, you can find it here.  

Question 2b: Do you think it will be permanent? 

Answer: Yes, to some degree. This wasn't a one-time thing. Clarence House has made a change. This is how replies are going to look in the future. But we might see some little changes over time, especially when The Cambridge/Sussex office finally splits. We might see a change with their replies, as they may not go by Kensington Palace anymore.