Prince Harry - Birthday Reply (2017)

I received a reply today from the UK. I had written to Prince Harry last month for his 33rd Birthday. I got a letter instead of the usual photo reply, which happened last year as well.

The letter reads:

Dear Miss Daly, 

Prince Harry has asked me to thank you for your incredibly thoughtful letter of 13th September.  

His Royal Highness was immensely touched by your kind words of support and he greatly appreciated the generous nature of your comments regarding the work he undertakes both with mental health charities and the Invictus Games Foundation.  

Although unable to reply to you presonally, Prince Harry was most greteful that you should take the trouble to write and has asked me to send you his warmst thanks for your letter and his sincerest best wishes.

Yours Sincerely,
Claudia Spens

It's always nice to get a thoughtful letter, mentioning specific things I wrote about.

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Prince William & Duchess Kate - 3rd Pregnancy Reply (2017)

I had written to the Cambridges last month to congratulate them on the wonderful news that they are expecting their 3rd child! The reply is their usual postcard size photo with typed message on the back.

The photo is from a year ago on the Cambridge's Tour of Canada. It is the same photo as they used in their 2016 Christmas reply, except the Christmas reply did not have a white border.

The message reads:

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were touched by your kind words following the happy news that they are expecting their third child. It really was most thoughtful of you and Their Royal Highnesses send you their warmest thanks and best wishes. 

The message is the same as their reply for the announcement of their 2nd pregnancy, except for the obvious change of 2nd child to 3rd.

I can't wait for the new little Cambridge Addition!!!

Queen Paola of Belgium - 80th Birthday Reply (2017)

I had written to Queen Paola at the end of August for her 80th birthday on September 11th.

This reply came today, a month after her birthday. It is a flat card. On one side is a copy of a handwritten note. On the other side is a picture.

The message is in French, one of Belgium's official languages. Roughly translated the note says:

"Belvedére (Castle) 

I want to thank you personally for the well-wishes you have sent on the occasion of my 80th birthday and tell you they have touched me very deeply.  

Paola   

Sept. 2017"

It's common for Queen Paola to write a hand-written message, that is then copied and printed on reply cards. This allows her to send a very lovely, personal response without having to hand-write every single reply.

On the front of the card is a picture from Queen Paola's 80th birthday celebrations in June. The Royal Family and guests gathered for a special 80th birthday musical performance in support of three of Paola's charities: the Queen Paola Foundation, the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, and Missing Children Europe.

The photo is a nice size. It about as big as two of the typical photo replies from the Cambridges.

 I have numbered the Royals in order of the family tree:

• Queen Paola (1) & King Albert (2)
• King Philippe (3) & Queen Mathilde (4)
• Princess Elisabeth (5)
• Prince Gabriel (6)
• Prince Emmanuel (7)
• Princess Eléonore (8)
• Princess Astrid (9) & Prince Lorenz (10)
• Prince Amedeo (11) & Princess Elisabetta (12)
• Archduchess Anna (13)
• Princess Maria Laura (did not attend)
• Prince Joachim (14)
• Princess Luisa Maria (15)
• Princess Laetitia Maria (16)
• Prince Laurent (arrived late, not pictured) & Princess Claire (17)
• Princess Louise (18)
• Prince Nicolas & Prince Aymeric (19, one of them is behind Queen Paola)

In my letter for Queen Paola's birthday, I also sent my condolences for the death of her brother, Don Antonello Ruffo di Calabria, who passed away on August 24th.

I received a 2nd reply thanking me for sending my condolences. This reply arrived about a week and a half before the birthday reply.

The reply came in a very lovely envelope, which has a purple lining on the inside. Not all of Queen Paola's replies come in such a lovely envelope. 

Inside was a note from Queen Paola, thanking me for sending my condolences for the death of her brother.

The message is in again French and translates to:

Belvédère (Castle) 

September 2017 

Her Majesty Queen Paola was very touched by the expressions of sympathy you have shown following the death of her brother, Don Antonello Ruffo di Calabria, and expresses her sincere thanks.

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Prince Hans Adams & Princess Marie of Liechtenstein - 50th Wedding Reply (2017)

I received this reply from Liechtenstein. I have written to Prince Hans-Adams II & Princess Marie in July for their 50th (Golden) Wedding Anniversary! Prince Hans-Adams is the monarch of Liechtenstein. But he retired in 2004 and made his son, Prince Alois, regent.

This reply came just over 2 months after I wrote. That's a pretty normal response time for royal mail in general. But it's the longest wait time I've ever had for a reply from Liechtenstein.

The front of the envelope is the usual from the Liechtenstein Royals. 

The back of the envelope says "Schloss Vaduz FL-9490" the address of the Palace. 

Inside is a flat card. I 

The card has a textured edge. I placed the card on orange paper when I scanned, it so that you can see the edge. What you can't see all that well is the embossed coat of arms at the top of the card. 

The card says:

Many thanks for your kind wishes

on the occasion of our 

Golden Wedding Anniversary

Marie Liechtenstein      Hans Adams Liechtenstein

You may notice that the card uses two different fonts.  The Liechtenstein Royals have pre-made cards that just say "Many thanks for your kind wishes." These are able to be used for almost any event. The 2nd & 3rd line were added later to make this card specific for their 50th wedding anniversary. 

The signatures appear to be real as they differ from the signatures I have on other cards from them. 

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Princess Beatrice - Birthday Reply (2017)

A lovely reply arrived today from the UK.  I had written to Princess Beatrice of York for her 29th Birthday earlier this month. The envelope and letter are pretty standard of what we see from the Duke of York's office. 

The letter reads: 

Dear Miss Daly, 

Princess Beatrice of York has asked me to thank you for your kind birthday message. Her Royal Highness is very grateful to you for thinking of her on this occasion.  

Princess Beatrice of York sends you her best wishes.  

Yours sincerely,  

Amanda Thirsk LVO 

Private Secretary to The Duke of York 

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Prince William - Birthday Reply (2017)

Another piece of Royal Mail arrived earlier this week! This time from the UK. 

The envelope is standard for the UK Royals. What is interesting is this envelope has two postmarks. 

The red postmark is the iconic one from the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace. This is where all of the London Royal office's have their mail franked (i.e. stamped with postage and postmark). 

The black postmark was added when the mail was taken to the Mount Pleasant Post Office in London. The postmarks reads: "Royal Mail proudly supports 30 years of Payroll Giving." This was a special week only (July 10-15th) postmark to celebrate the 30th anniversary. 

 "Payroll Giving allows employees to give to charity straight from their wages or pension without paying tax on it. [...] Over the years, Royal Mail employees have raised over £58 million supporting over 1,400 charities." - Royal Mail in press releases on the 30th Anniversary Postmark 

For more on the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace and the different Royal Postmarks

Inside the envelope is a reply to the letter I sent to Prince William for his birthday. I received both the typical postcard size photo and a letter. 

The letter is written by Claudia Spens, who is head of the correspondence section at Clarence House. The stationary says Kensington Palace, which is the name of William, Kate & Harry's office. But their mail from the public is handled by Clarence House. 

The letter is dated June 29th, but the envelope is postmarked July 11th, two weeks later. So, this was either mistaken dated, or it accidentally sat around for 2 weeks, which happens. Prince Andrew's office is particularly prone to letting stuff sit around for a few days before being sent out.  

The letter says:

Dear Miss Daly, 

The Duke of Cambridge has asked me to thank you for your thoughtful letter of 5th June.  

His Royal Highness is grateful to you for your kinds words of support regarding his relocation to London and he appreciated the generous nature of your comments regarding the work he undertakes as part of his official duty as a member of The Royal Family.  

Although unable to reply personally, The Duke of Cambridge was touched that you should take the trouble to write as you did, and has asked me to send you his wamest thanks and sincerest best wishes.  

Yours Sincerely,  

Claudia Spens

I always find it very touching to get a personal letter in reply. It's clear Miss Spens had read my letter.

This also mark's the 1st anniversary of the Black Kensington Palace Stationary. I first saw it with  William's birthday reply last year. I'm not a huge fan, but it is likely much easier on Clarence House to have one stationary for William, Kate and Harry, then 3 personal ones. I have even seen letters from the Private Secretaries at Kensington Palace use this black stationery. 

This reply came a little later than last years, but 3 months earlier than 2015's. So a good response time.

The photo card is the normal size, but it what is interesting is it has a white border around the picture. We've seen this before with Camilla's large photo cards, and more recently on the normal size Christmas reply from Charles & Camilla. I understand why on the large cards you want a bit of a border, and it works well. But on such a small picture as this, I don't see why it is needed.

The photo was taken in April by Norman Jean Roy for British GQ. You can read Prince William's British GQ interview here.

The back of the card has the same sort of message as usual. But it is nice to see new wording. I particularly like it when the card mentions which birthday. Because it doesn't have a date on it, it could be hard a few years from now to just look at the picture and tell which birthday this was from. 

The card says:

The Duke of Cambridge greatly appreciated the kind message you sent on the occasion of his 35th birthday. 

His Royal Highness is touched you took the trouble to do this and sends his warmest thanks and best wishes. 

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Queen Margrethe & Prince Henrik - 50th Wedding Anniversary Reply

I got this reply at the beginning of the month. Sorry, I've been a bit lazy about making a post. I had written to Queen Margrethe & Prince Henrik for their 50th wedding anniversary, last month. 

It's a typical reply from Queen Margrethe. It's a form letter. They filled in my name, and which ever aide-de-camp was working that day signed it. 

Obviously, Prince Henrik is in our thoughts right now as he was hospitalized on Thursday with a leg infection from a wound. Henrik had Angioplasty surgery on Monday. The surgery helped clear a blocked artery, which was probably making the infection a lot worse. Prince Henrik is expected to be released tomorrow (Wednesday).

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