Prince Harry - Birthday Reply (2016)

A lovely reply arrived today from Clarence House. Yes, the envelope and stationary say Kensington Palace, and the Cambridge/Harry office is at Kensington Palace. But their mail is handled by Prince Charles's office at Clarence House.

Claudia Spens works for Clarence House, as head of their Correspondence Section.

I had written to Prince Harry earlier this month for his 32nd Birthday. The reply arrived 2.5 weeks after I sent my letter, which is a quicker response time than Harry's birthday reply in 2015 & 2014.

Typically, Clarence House sends out a postcard size photo with a typed message on the back for birthdays. This year I got a letter instead. I have seen many people get the typical postcard-sized photo with message this year. It features the same photo as last year's reply with a similar message.

The letter reads:

Dear Miss Daly,  

Prince Harry has asked me to thank you for your letter of 9th September. It was so kind of you to take the trouble to write as you did and His Royal Highness greatly appreciated your kind wishes on the occasion of his 32nd birthday.  

Prince Harry has also asked me to thank you for your thoughtful and generous words of support for all he does to help the many charities and causes he so passionately cares about. His Royal Highness asked me to send you his warmest thanks and best wishes.  

Yours Sincerely,  

Claudia Spens

Back to Replies - Main Page

Prince Félix and Princess Claire of Luxembourg - Pregnancy Announcement (2016)

I love getting Royal Mail, and it's especially nice during the long wait of a royal tour.

I had written to Princess Claire and Prince Félix of Luxembourg in July when they announced they were expecting their 2nd child, this Autumn. We haven't been given any more specifics about the baby or the due date (October or late November seems likely).

This reply came 2.5 months later.

The envelope is typical for Luxembourg. The lovely stamp was created by Mariepol Goetzinger, and released in September 2015 as part of a set to celebrate Luxembourg's bio-diversity.

The postmark celebrates the anniversaries of two Museums: the Grand Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art's 10th Anniversary (MUDAM) & Casino Luxembourg's 20th Anniversary.

Inside is a very simple card, typical of what you see from the Luxembourg Royals. A bit interesting that the card doesn't mention why I wrote to the couple.

The card reads:

Their Royal Highnesses Prince Felix and Princess Claire of Luxembourg were so touched by your kind message. They thank you very much. 

Luxembourg, September 2016 

Back to Replies - Main Page

Princess Beatrice - Birthday Reply (2016)

Quite excited to receive this reply over the weekend.

I wrote to Princess Beatrice early last month for her 28th Birthday. This reply came about a month later, which makes it a few weeks earlier than last year's birthday reply.

The envelope is the usual from the British Royals with Prince Andrew's badge on the back. What is a bit unusual is the Royal Mail's postmark (in black). Usually, letters from the British Royals just feature their red postmark (w/ EIIR and Buckingham Palace). This red postmark is used by all the London-based royal offices.

The black Royal Mail postmark reads the ‘Royal Mail proud to support Stroke Association.’ Stroke Association is the Royal Mail's charity partner and their "Charity of the Year" for September 2014-September 2016. This postmark is used over that two year period to raise awareness for the cause. 

The Queen is Patron of Stroke Association and the Duke of Kent is President. 

The second part of the postmark reads "Royal Mail, Mount Pleasant Mail Centre." The Mount Pleasant Mail Centre is in London and use to be one of the world's largest sorting offices.

The letter is the typical reply from Prince Andrew's Office. The letter was written by Andrew's Private Secretary, Amanda Thirsk, and is hand-signed.

The letter reads:

Buckingham Palace

30th August, 2016

Dear Miss Daly,  

Princess Beatrice has asked me to thank you for your kind letter dated 5th August, 2016. Her Royal Highness was very grateful for the Birthday message.  

Princess Beatrice sends you her best wishes.  

Yours Sincerely,  

Amanda Thirsk LVO

Private Secretary to The Duke of York

Back to Replies - Main Page 

Prince George 3rd Birthday Reply (2016)

 

This arrived today! I had written to the Cambridges last month for Prince George's 3rd birthday, and received this lovely card in reply. It's their typical response, postcard size photo with typed message on back.

The picture on the front was a part of the set released for Prince George's birthday. It was taken at Anmer Hall. This is the first time George's birthday response has used one of the photos released for his birthday. Usually the Cambridges use an earlier photo, so they can get the card printed ahead of time.

The message on the back is the same as the ones for George's 1st and 2nd birthday.

The card says: 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are most grateful for the very kind message you sent to Prince George on the occasion of his third birthday. 

It really was most thoughtful of you and greatly appreciated. 

George's birthday replies are always very special to me, cause the first time I wrote to the royals was Prince George's 1st birthday. So, Gert's Royals is now entering it's 3rd year of letter writing.

The back of the Envelope features a Black Crown with Kensington Palace written underneath. (The crown in the same one used in William, Catherine & Harry's Monograms.) We have been seeing this monogram get used more and more by Kensington Palace, usually for joint mail.

The British Royals don't usually do joint monograms, like you see with other royals. Instead they use the monogram of the more senior royal.

So this "new" black monogram is nice in that it can be used for joint things from the 3 royals or 2 of them. It's not exactly new, I remember seeing a few things with this years ago when their office was still at St. James Palace. But we've seen it on a number of royal letters now, and in official things. I think this is here to stay, and we will see a lot more of it.

The Duke and Duchess and Prince Harry have sent this message to @TeamGB #Rio2016 #BringOnTheGreat pic.twitter.com/QvGC2BqL2c

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) August 22, 2016

Duchess Camilla - Birthday Reply (2016)

A very exciting piece of royal mail arrived today. from the UK.

It was from Duchess Camilla, thanking me for the Birthday wishes I sent her. The card is similar to last year's birthday reply, a picture with a typed message on the back, which she hand-signed. The card is double the size of the typical Cambridge/Harry reply.

The picture is from October 2015, when Camilla attended the Man Booker Prize Award Ceremony. Camilla presented the award to the winner and gave a Speech.

The Man Booker Prize is a literary prize awarded to the best new novel, written in English and published in the UK. The Prize is awarded every year.

The name, Man Booker, comes from the award's founder & sponsors. The award was founded and sponsored in 1968, by the company Booker, McConnell Ltd (a food distributor). It was originally called the Booker–McConnell Prize. Over time the award became know, as simply, the Booker Prize. 

In 2002, the Booker Prize broke off from Booker, McConnell Ltd, and started its own foundation, The Booker Prize Foundation. The Man group (an investment firm) became the Prize's new sponsor, and the award was renamed the Man Booker Prize. 

Camilla is a big supporter of literacy and is Parton of a number of organizations that support literacy. 

Camilla has attended the Man Booker Prize, every year as of late, and it is one of Camilla's favorite events. No surprise that a book lover like Camilla would choose something literary-themed for her birthday card. 

By pure coincidence, I actually talked about some of Camilla's work with literacy in my Birthday letter to her, particularly the Roald Dahl 100th Anniversary.  

The back of the card is particularly special as well.  The message reads:

Dear Gertrude, 

Thank you very much for your kind message on my birthday. It seems to come round faster every year.

With best wishes, 

Camilla

I love the playfulness of the line: "It [Camilla's Birthday] seems to come round faster every year!" You also have to appreciate that Camilla took the time to hand-sign each card, and write the person's name. 

The envelope looks like the normal royal mail. Since this was something that Camilla hand-signed, it was sent by registered mail. 

What is very very very interesting is, the letter was sent to my old address. I moved in February, long before I sent my letter for Camilla's birthday. I was able to check since I had typed them on my computer, both the letter and the envelope used my new address. So if you had just looked at what I sent, they would not have my old address. 

This tells me Camilla's office stores people's address on their computer (which if you have to print them on the envelope each time they reply makes sense). So when they typed in my name, my old address came up. 

The blue monogram on the back of the envelope tells us that this was sent from Clarence House. 

Back to Replies - Main Page

Prince Philip - Birthday Reply (2016)

This arrived over the weekend.

I had written to Prince Philip, in June, for his 95th Birthday.

The reply is almost exactly the same as last year's birthday Reply & written by the same person, Captain Frederick Moynan.

Captain Moynan is an Assistant Equerry for Prince Philip. Equerry's are Officers in the Armed Forces who serve in a Royal's household for a 2 year period. Equerries often help coordinate engagements, travel, etc. The position rotates through the different branches of the Armed Forces every 2 years. (Should not be confused with the Crown Equerry, who is in charge of the Horses at the Royal Mews.)

I would expect next year's reply will be written by someone else as Captain Moynan will likely have finished his time serving in Prince Philip's household.

It took the Palace a little longer to send the birthday reply this year, as would be expected given that this was a milestone birthday. But this is still a very good response time!

  

The telephone number and fax are the general numbers for Buckingham Palace.

You will notice that the letter referred to him as Prince Philip. Phillip's replies are the only ones I have seen from the British Royals who uses the royal's name.

The Palace almost always refer to the royal by their title. This is why since his wedding Prince William has always been referred to as Duke of Cambridge and never Prince William by the Palace. This is the same reason why the Palace calls her Duchess of Cambridge and never Princess Catherine. They do the same with the other Prince and Princesses: It is always Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duke of York, Earl of Wessex, Duke of Kent, etc. and never Prince Charles, Princess Camilla, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, Prince Edward, etc.

(Harry, George, Charlotte don't have titles of their own, so they always use their name.)

Since I know people will ask: No, I haven't gotten a reply for the Queen's 90th Birthday. Buckingham Palace has been very busy, but working hard. I keep seeing somebody get a reply every week or so, so they are working on it.

Prince Philip's mail and the Queen's mail are dealt with by different offices at Buckingham Palace, so don't read anything into Philip's reply arriving first.

Prince William - Birthday Reply (2016)

 The Envelope:

From the front of the envelope, we can tell that this letter is from one of the British Royals. The postmark "Buckingham Palace" is used on almost all royal mail, regardless of what residence it is sent from. We have even seen it on mail from Scotland. (Buckingham Palace on the postmark just refers to the post office where the letters were stamped/franked.)

With the British Royals, you can usually tell who the letter is from by the monogram on the back of the envelope. The back of this envelope has a black crown with the words "Kensington Palace" written underneath.

As you may know, the Cambridge-Harry office is at Kensington Palace. But a bunch of other royals live there and have their office there as well. Part of Kensington Palace is also a museum, a public garden, and spaces that can be rented out for events. So Kensington Palace could mean a lot of things, not just the Cambridge-Harry Office.

I have never gotten a piece of mail with this monogram on the back, although I do recognise it.

The Royals all use different monograms, but a sharp eye will notice that William, Catherine and Harry's Monograms all use the same crown. And that it is the same crown used on this envelope.  That means this letter has to be from one of them. We have seen this smilar design used years ago, when their office was at St. James.

The Letter:

The letter inside is in reply to my Birthday Letter to Prince William.

This is a personalized letter. It mentions specific things about my letter: my comments on his work with mental health charities, his birthday and Charlotte's birthday.

I love the phrase "Generous Nature"! I talked in my letter about William's work on mental health, & specifically his new Anti-bullying campaign. I also talked more generally about William, Catherine and Harry's work.

Normally I don't like to go into what exactly I wrote, but I found a copy of my letter in my laptop and was looking over it as I wrote this blog post. And because this part was really cute I thought I would share it with you:

"... I would like to point out that your “Dad” is totally showing. I can’t help but look at these causes, and the other ones you and Catherine support and think about Prince George and Princess Charlotte. It seems quite obvious that you are doing this, in part,  for your own children and their future..."

I did briefly mention Charlotte's birthday in my letter because I was a little sad I didn't get the birthday photo reply everyone else got. I had written to the Cambridges for their 5th Anniversary/Charlotte's 1st Birthday, but the reply I got was just for their 5th Wedding Anniversary. And a part of me was hoping if I mentioned her birthday, they might include Charlotte's birthday photo reply with William's birthday photo reply.

Obviously, this is not the typical photo reply we see from the Cambridges

I know other people have gotten the usual photo birthday reply for Prince William's Birthday this year. They said it is the same as last years.

For any event, there are always letters that get replied to more personally. Obviously, there are a lot of factors that go into who gets a more personal reply and who gets the generic reply. Part of it is just luck. They can't personally reply to everyone, even if they get a bunch of amazing, thoughtful letters.

But the short answer is: if the generic reply is the appropriate response, that is what they send. If the generic reply would not be the appropriate response, or if they think the letter deserves a more personal response, then they send a personal response.

My advice is to always make your letter a bit personal. Don't just mention general things, like the Royal does great work and that it is important, mention specifics. Another little except from my letter:

"[Talk about William, Catherine & Harry's work, then] ...What I especially admire is your new Anti-Bullying task-force and the Head Start campaign. They both seem like incredible projects. And although they are obviously relevant for all ages, they are very important for young adults.... [I then went on to talk about young adults and mental health]."

If you want a personal letter that was meant for you, write a personal letter that could only be written by you.

Why "Kensington Palace" Stationary?

I feel like this should have been written on Prince William's red "W" stationary. It is a little odd that it is not. I have gotten a reply from Claudia Spens on Prince William's red "W" stationary & Harry's blue "H", and I feel like this reply and those are similar. So, black "Kensington Palace" stationary is interesting.

(Update: They have since used the Black Kensington Palace stationary more often. I think most of the letters from Clarence House's correspondence section use it now. And we will mainly see William's red "W", Kate's yellow "C" for Catherine, and Harry's blue "H" on letters from their private secretary.)  

We have gotten a few replies written from Miss Spens before, and you can see the differences:
(Notice the name of the office)

Claudia Spens works for Clarence House, in the Correspondence Section. The Correspondence Section at Clarence House handles all the mail for Charles, Camilla, The Cambridges & Harry. Unless your lucky enough to get something from a Private Secretary.

Miss Spens and the other people in the Correspondence Section are the ones sending out the typical photo replies.

Even though the letter is sent from Clarence House, they use the Royal's Stationary. William's stationary says Kensington Palace, since that is where his office/residence is. The name of the office changes as well (Office of Charles & Camilla vs. Cambridges & Harry), despite the fact that Miss Spens is always working at Clarence House.