Prince William - Birthday Reply (2019)

A lovely reply arrived over the weekend from the UK. I had written to Prince William in June for his birthday.

The front of the envelope is the usual from the British royals, featuring the postmark from the court post office at Buckingham Palace.

The back of the envelope features the black crown/Kensington Royal that is currently used by the Cambridges.

Inside is Clarence House's typical birthday reply, a photo card with a typed message on the back.

The front of the card features a photo of Prince William by Norman-Jean Roy. The photo is from William's 2017 interview with British GQ. You can read the interview here.

This photo was also used on Prince William's 2017 and 2018 birthday replies. It is quite typical for Clarence House to reuse photos for multiple events, especially the adult's birthdays.

The back of the card features the black/crown Kensington Palace at the top, along with a typed message. The message is slightly different than last years.

The message reads: 

The Duke of Cambridge is most grateful to you for writing as you did on the occasion of his 37th birthday. 

It really was most thoughtful of you and His Royal Highness sends you his warmest thanks and best wishes. 

Back to Replies - Main Page 

Prince Joachim of Denmark - 50th Birthday Reply (2019)

A lovely reply arrived today from Denmark. I had written to Prince Joachim in June for his 50th birthday.

I have written to Prince Joachim & his wife, Princess Marie, a number of times over the years. Princess Marie's birthday, earlier this year, was the 1st time I got a reply from them. This is the 2nd.

The envelope is pretty usual from the Danish Royals. The red crown/ Amalienbourg appears on Queen Margrethe & The Prince Couple's envelopes, but not the Crown Prince couples.



The back of the envelope features a blue crown. This is the Royal Crown of Denmark and is the same one featured on the postmark & card.



Inside is a premade card that has been personalized and signed by Charles-Henri Keller. Charles-Henri Keller is Prince Joachim's cousin on his father's side.

Charles-Henri is officially listed on the Denmark Royal website as a "Funds Secretary" for the Office of Treasury in Queen Margrethe's Household. But since Princess Marie's lady-in-waiting resigned last October, Charles-Henri has been seen accompanying Marie on official engagements. So, it looks like Charles-Henri now has some official role in Joachim & Marie's office. Although, I'm not sure what exactly his position is.



The card reads:

August 2019

Dear Miss Daly  

His Royal Highness Prince Joachim has asked me to thank you for you kind congratulations on the occasion of His Royal Highness's birthday.  

Best Regards, 

Charles-Henri Keller

It's not very often that you will get a personalized flat card like this. So, this is especially lovely. And I am always quite excited when they include the date. I think it makes it a little nicer momento, as you can look back years later and know what year this reply was from.

Back to Replies - Main Page 

Duchess Camilla - Birthday Reply (2019)

A lovely reply arrived today from the UK. I had written to Duchess Camilla last month to wish her a happy birthday.

The front of the envelope is pretty typical of the British royals, except for the fact that this is a larger envelope.

The back of the envelope feature's Camilla's monogram. Since the monogram is blue, we know came from Clarence House. Camilla uses an envelope with green monograms for Birkhall in Scotland, where she is spending her summer break with Prince Charles.

Inside is the usual sort of reply for Duchess Camilla's birthday, a large photo card with typed message on the back. This card is twice the size as the normal photo cards that Clarence House sends out for other royal birthdays.

The front features a photo of Duchess Camilla at the Hermitage Plantation House in Saint Kitts and Nevis during her Spring tour with Prince Charles in March. The photo was taken by royal photographer, Arthur Edward.

The back of the card features a typed message along with Camilla's auto-penned signature.

The card reads:

So many thanks for your kind birthday message.

As always, it was greatly appreciated.

From 

Camilla

Each year, for events like her birthday, Camilla does hand-sign a selection of cards and rest are auto-penned. The last few years I've written I've been lucky enough to get a real signature. But you can't expect to get lucky every year. Either way, it is an absolute treasure.

There are a few ways you can tell something has actually been signed by Camilla:

1. There is some personalization that makes this card just for you, like "Dear _,"
2. Usually closes "With best wishes," instead of "From"
3. The reply is sent by registered/certified mail
4. Not from the correspondence section 
1. Camilla's personal staff will often write the address with each line indented (See 2017 birthday reply)
2. Replies from Birkhall use green monogrammed envelopes

Autopenend signatures:

1. Look the same as other people's replies
2. No personalization
3. Usually say "From," instead of "With best wishes,"
4. Handled by the Correspondence Section

Back to Replies - Main Page

The Wessexs - 20th Anniversary Reply (2019)

A lovely reply arrived today from the UK. I had written to Prince Edward & Countess Sophie last month for their 20th wedding anniversary.

This was a wonderful surprise. The Wessexs very rare reply. It seems like their office just picks out a few letters & cards for each occasion to reply to. So, I was not expecting anything. This is my 3rd reply from the couple.

The front of the envelope looks very different than most of the replies you see from the UK Royals. The main reason is the Wessexs's mail isn't processed through the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace. So, their mail doesn't feature that postmark. (For more on the Court Post Office, and different UK postmarks.)

Unlike other UK Royals, The Wessexs's mail isn't sent to their office in London. Instead, letters to the couple should be addressed to their home, Bagshot Park, where they have staff there to answer them.

This postmark has been used in the past for various royal residences, which is why it is not specific to Bagshot Park.

What is interesting is the postmark still feature's the old royal PPI (Printed Postal Impression) number W7047. The Royals changed the number in March to W4047, which is why they redesigned a number of their postmarks, including the one for the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace. I expect they will update this postmark eventually. But, it's understandable that they would be a few months behind.

The back of the envelope features Prince Edward & Countess Sophie's joint coat of arm, along with the name of their residence, Bagshot Park. This envelope is used for both joint things from the couple, and solo letter sent on behalf of one of them.

In the envelope is a simple letter written by Jackie Phipps, their Secretarial Assistant.  

The letter reads: 

Bagshot Park 

05 July 2019 

Dear Miss Daly 

The Earl and Countess of Wessex thought it very kind of you to write to them on the occasion of their 20th wedding anniversary. 

 Although unable to reply personally, Their Royal Highnesses send you their best wishes,  

Jackie Phipps

Household of TRH the Earl and Countess of Wessex

The bottom of the letter features the address for Bagshot Park, which is what you want to use if you write to them. There is also a telephone and fax number. 

Edinburgh Family Replies - Main Page

Here are my replies for Prince Edward & Duchess Sophie, AKA the Duke & Duchess of Edinburgh, formerly referred to as the Earl & Countess of Wessex. 

Their office very rarely replies to letters. So, while I've written to them a number of times over the years, I've only gotten a few replies. 

2023

• Mystery Reply (2022)

2022

• None

2021

• Death of Prince Philip

2020

• None

2019

• Edward & Sophie's 20th wedding anniversary

2018

• Edward & Sophie - Christmas (2017)

2017

• Sophie - DofE Diamond Awards Challange (Email)
• Edward - Birthday (Hand-written letter by Private Secretary)

2016-2015

• None

Back to Replies - Main Page

Princess Charlotte of Cambridge - Birthday Reply (2019)

A lovely reply arrived today from the UK. I had written to Prince William & Duchess Kate for Princess Charlotte's birthday.

The envelope is usual from the British Royals.

The back of the envelope features the black crown/Kensington Palace that is used by the Cambridges.

Inside is a letter and a postcard-sized photocard.

The photocard features a lovely photo of Princess Charlotte taken by Duchess Kate. This is from the
set of official photos that were released for Charlotte's birthday.

The back of the card features the usual sort of message. It is similar to past years, but they change it up slightly every year. The top of the card features the black crown/Kensington Palace. This was added to the Cambridge & Sussexs cards in January, so this is the first time we've seen it on Princess Charlotte's birthday reply. 

The card reads:

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge appreciated your kind thought in writing to Princess Charlotte as you did on the occasion of her fourth birthday.  

This was greatly appreciated by Their Royal Highnesses who send you their best wishes.

Included with the card is a letter from Claudia Spens, head of the correspondence section at Clarence House. In my birthday letter to Princess Charlotte, I had also sent my congratulations to Duchess Kate on being appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order by the Queen. I had sent my anniversary wishes to the Cambridges in my birthday letter for Prince Louis, and received a letter in reply. But as I had written & sent that letter before their anniversary, when this honor was announced, I wasn't able to include my congratulations to Kate for her Royal Victorian Order.

The letter reads:

Dear Miss Daly,  

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have asked me to thank you for your kind letter of 2nd.  

Their Royal Highnesses are grateful to you for taking the trouble to write as you did and were touched by your kind words of support regarding Her Royal Highness's recent appointment as Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO). It really was most thoughtful of you. You may be interested to know that the order of chivalry was established in 1896 by Queen Victoria to recognise personal service to the monarch. 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have asked me to send you their warmest thanks and best wishes.  

Yours sincerely,  

Claudia Spens

---

Clarence House's annual report reveals that they received 123,303 letters/cards from well-wishers from April 2018-March 2019.  (Clarence House answers all of Charles, Camilla, The Cambridges & Sussexs mail.) This is a big increase from previous years:

2018-2019:   123,303
2017-2018:   53,716
2016-2017:   39,783
2015-2016:   43,036

To deal with the increase in mail, Clarence House has hired more staff for their Correspondence Section. They now have equal to 5.0 full-time staff members.

Back to Replies - Main Page

Prince Philip - Birthday Reply (2019)

A lovely reply arrived today from the UK. I had written to Prince Philip earlier this month to wish him a happy 98th birthday.

The front of the envelope is the usual from the British Royals. One interesting thing is my address is printed on a label, instead of straight on the envelope. This is often a sign of a form reply. It allows them to prepare replies in bulk, with form letters in unaddressed envelopes. They can then print out batches of labels as they go through the letters and cards from well-wishers.

The back of the envelope features Prince Philip's badge. There has been some discussion about what exactly this thing is called, as it is not a monogram, cypher or coat of arms. And I can confirm that this is called a "badge." I found an article on the old Royal website where they refer to it as a badge. 

In the center of the badge is Edinburgh Castle. It is surrounded by the Order of Garter belt and topped with a coronet. 

Inside the envelope is a form letter. Pretty much everyone who wrote for Philip's birthday got the same thing.

The letter is from Mrs. Suzy Lethbridge, Prince Philip's correspondence secretary. The signature is printed on the letter. Everyone who received this form letter had the same signature.

But it is not the same signature as past replies (e.g. Philip's birthday last year). It looks like, each time they create a new form letter, Mrs. Lethbridge creates a new copy of her signature. This is done to make harder to tell the signature isn't real. If I compare this letter with other replies I received, the signatures are all slightly different, which usually means it's real.  But when I compare my reply with other people's, for both this birthday & past events, I can see the form letters for each occasion use the same signatures.

The letter reads: 

Buckingham Palace

June, 2019

Prince Philip is most grateful for your message of good wishes for his birthday.  

Suzy Lethbridge 

Correspondence Secretary to 

H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh

The bottom of Prince Philip's stationery has the address, telephone number and fax number for Buckingham Palace. The numbers are general for the Palace, not specific for Prince Philip's office. 

Back to Replies - Main Page