Princess Eugenie - Birthday Reply (2019)

A lovely reply arrived a few days ago from the UK. I had written to Princess Eugenie last month to wish her a Happy Birthday.

The front of the envelope features the new postmark from the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace. The envelope is one of the smaller ones, as the reply is on a half-sheet of paper.

The back of the envelope features Prince Andrew's blue badge. Princess Eugenie & Princess Beatrice's mail is answered by the staff at Prince Andrew's office. 

The badge features the York Rose in the middle, surrounded with the Order of Garter belt and topped with a cornet. 

Inside is a letter from Charlotte Fenn. The letter describes her job title as "Assistant Private Secretary to HRH Princess Eugenie of York." But officially, she is Prince Andrew's Assistant Private Secretary. 

Princess Eugenie & Princess Beatrice don't have any of their own staff members. But Prince Andrew's office does handle some stuff for them. 

The letter reads:

Dear Gertrude, 

Princess Eugenie of York has asked me to thank you for sending her your good wishes on her birthday. Her Royal Highness is very grateful to you for thinking of her and send you her best wishes.  

Yours sincerely, 

Charlotte Fenn  

Assistant Private Secretary to HRH Princess Eugenie of York  

A few interesting things to note. First, the letter addresses her as "Princess Eugenie of York." Normally a British Princess drops her parent's territorial designation, in this case "of York," when she gets married. And we did see a number of things from the Palace post-wedding that indicated Eugenie had dropped the "of York." But we have also seen her use "of York" for various things recently. So, it looks like she will continue to use it.

Another interesting thing is the letter is dated March 23rd, which is Princess Eugenie's birthday. As I send my letter on March 21st, it would have been impossible for the letter to have gotten from the USA to UK in two days. So, the letter was likely not actually written on March 23rd, it was probably closer to the envelope's postmark date of March 27th. And I've seen other people's birthday replies and they were all worded the same with the same date, so it likely Charlotte Fenn just didn't update the date each time she sent the letter out to a new person.

This letter is also the first time I've gotten a letter from Andrew's office that refers to me as "Gertrude." It's quite personal and informal. Usually, they address the letter to "Miss Daly," or incorrectly to "Mrs. Daly" or "Ms. Daly.

Back to Replies - Main Page