As you know I can get a little geeky about envelopes. So, I was a little surprised to see this one.
The postmark/franking is the standard from the Belgium Royals, featuring their Postage Paid account number, B-22469.
This envelope features an embossed purple crown with the words Palace of Brussels written underneath in French. The Belgium royals have 11+ different envelopes that they use. And this by far is one of the most common envelopes you will see from them.
But this is interesting because normally, the couple send their Christmas replies in an envelope with their joint monogram, embossed in red. I find the envelope especially lovely because it is something they only usually use at Christmas, and it matches their card. (Although it's only my 2nd favorite envelope from the Belgium Royals.)
It looks like they must have run out of the joint monogrammed envelopes this year. People who received their replies earlier got the red joint monogrammed envelope and those who received it latter got this envelope.
I already have a number of these envelopes from past Christmas Replies, so I'm not too disappointed. But it is sad to think that others who wrote for the first time may not get it.
Inside is the couple's Christmas Card, which is the exact same as past years. The only change is the year & photo on the card.
The front of the card features the couple's Joint Monogram, which is embossed, so it has a very lovely texture.
The inside left side features a message in Belgium's 3 official languages (Dutch, French, & German) & English. The signatures are printed on and the same ones used last year. The children's name are printed in order of age.
The message reads, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The right side of the card features a lovely photo of the family that was taken after Princess Elisabeth's 18th birthday party.
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