Prince Philip - Birthday Reply

A lovely reply arrived today from the UK. I had written to Prince Philip in June to wish him a happy 99th birthday. This response came a little later than most of Prince Philip's past birthday reply, but understandable due to the pandemic.

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

The back of the envelope feature's Prince Philip's badge. 

Inside is a letter from Prince Philip's Correspondence Secretary, Suzy Lethbridge. Prince Philip's mail used to be handle by his Assistant Equerry. But when he retired, Prince Philip reduced his staff and his Assistant Equerry went to work for Prince Andrew. 

The letter is similar to Prince Philip's past birthday replies. He does change up the message on the letter from year to year, but the messages often get repeated. This year's message is the same as his 2016 reply.  

The letter says: 

Buckingham Palace

July 2020 

Dear Miss Daly, 

 

Prince Philip has asked me to say how much he appreciated your good wishes for his birthday. 

Your Sincerely, 

Suzy Lethbridge 

Correspondence Secretary to H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh 

Prince Philip's office sends out the same letter to everyone who writes for an occasion. This is why only the month and year is given for the date and there is nothing printed on the letter personalizing this to me.  However, this is the first birthday reply I have gotten from Prince Philip that has "Dear Miss Daly" written in.  It's only a little thing, but it is nice to have that personalization. 

I do wonder why the change now, after years of not personalizing the letter? I know from experience that the more overwhelmed an office is by mail the less personalized they tend to be. So, could it be they have more time on their hands? Less mail than past years?

Back to Replies - Main Page

Queen Margrethe of Denmark's 80th Birthday

A lovely reply arrived today from Denmark. I had written to Queen Margrethe for her 80th birthday in April. The response time is about 3.5 months, which is the longest response times I've gotten from the Queen Margrethe. But, not unexpected with the current pandemic. 

The front of the envelope is the usual from Queen Margrethe. The Postmark has the Royal Crown over Amalienborg, the main Danish Palace where her mail is sent from. 

The back of the envelope features the Royal Crown of Denmark. The envelope paper has a lovely edge, which you can sort of see. 

Inside is a letter from one of Queen Margrethe's Aides-de-camp.  The Denmark royals don't usually do special replies for milestone events. So, I was expecting something similar to her part replies, which is what I got. This letter is almost identical to Queen Margrethe's past birthday. But, the one change they did make, is this mentions that this is her 80th birthday. 

The paper has a lovely textured edge. 

The letter says: 

Dear Miss Gertrude A. Daly

 

Her Majesty the Queen has asked me to express to you Her sincere thanks for your kind greetings on the occasion of Her Majesty's 80th birthday. 

Yours sincerely

[Signature]

Aide-de-camp

Back to Replies - Main Page

King Albert of Belgium - Birthday Reply (2020)

A lovely reply arrived today from Belgium. I had written to King Albert last month to wish him a happy birthday. 

The Belgium Royals have a number of different envelopes that they use. This version is the most common for King Albert & Queen Paola, with a purple crown and Belvédère [Castle], the name of their home, on the front. 

What is unusual however is my address is handwritten on the envelope. I have gotten a number of replies over the years with handwritten envelopes, but this is the first time from Belgium. 

Inside is a flat card, similar to past birthday replies. 

The card says: 

His Majesty King Albert II warmly thanks you for the kind wishes sent on the occasion of His 86th birthday.

Back to Replies - Main Page

Condolence reply for Elizabeth-Ann de Massy

A lovely reply arrived today from Monaco. I had written to Prince Albert to send him and his family my deepest condolences on the passing of his cousin Elizabeth de Massy last month.  

The envelope is the usual from the Monaco Royals. Although this features no monogram. The postmark says, in French, "Women’s Rights Committee, the Prince’s Government, Promotion and Protection." The Monaco Post Service has lovely postmarks. They usually rotate every week between a special postmark for an event and their standard postmarks. This postmark would have been stamped on all the mail sent in Monaco at that time.  

As I said previously, I moved in March. I had written my letter of condolence using my new address. But what is interesting is this was sent to my old address. The Monaco Royals store addresses of people who write in a database. (Other monarchies do this as well.) And so, when replying had pulled my old address off their database. 

This isn't surprising since the same thing happened last time I moved. Some monarchies note the address change right away, others take a while. My strategy has just been to include in green "New Address" on my envelope. 

Inside is a flat card, with a printed message. The card features a black border for mourning. 

The card translates to:

TSH The Prince and Princess of Monaco

and their children

Mr. Jean-Léonard Taubert de Massey and his son

Miss Mélanie-Antoinette de Massy de Lusignan

Baron Christian de Massy

Mrs. Leticia de Massy and her children

Mr. Brice Gelable de Massy

Mr and Mrs. Sébastien Knecht de Massy and their children

HRH The Princess of Hanover, her children and grandchildren 

HSH Princess Stéphanie of Monaco and her children

The Noghes family and the Polignac family

Deeply touched by the kind attention that you showed them following the passing of

Mrs Elizabeth-Ann de Massy

They express their feelings of deep gratitude

The people listed on the card are Elizabeth's family. Prince Albert, Princess Charlene and their children are listed first, and then the rest are listed based on their relationship to Elizabeth. 

Children: 

Mr. Jean-Léonard Taubert de Massey

Miss Mélanie-Antoinette de Massy de Lusignan

Siblings:

Baron Christian de Massy

Nieces & Nephews:

Mrs. Leticia de Massy 

Mr. Brice Gelable de Massy

Mr. Sébastien Knecht de Massy 

Cousins: 

Prince Albert, Princess Charlene, Princess Stephanie, Princess Caroline

Extended Family: 

Noghès Family

Polignac Family

---

This reply came fairly quickly, just over a month since I wrote. 

Each monarchy is making their own decisions about how to handle mail during the pandemic. But in general, things have been slower than usual. This is my first reply in over a month. 

I would be prepared for long response times. 

Back to Replies - Main Page

Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg - Birthday Reply (2020)

A lovely reply arrived this week from Luxembourg. I had written to Grand Duke Henri in April for his 65th birthday. 

On the front of the envelope are two stamps of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume that were released to mark his 30th birthday in 2011.

The postmark is a special postmark to celebrate the birth of Prince Charles of Luxembourg. It features the Grand-Ducal Crown in one corner and "Vive le Prince" (Long Live the Prince) in the opposite corner. 

The back of the envelope features the Grand-Ducal Crown.

Inside are two cards. The first card is the usual sort of flat card with a typed message. 

The card says: 

Luxembourg April 2020

All my thanks for your kind wishes on the occasion of my birthday. 

Henri

The date on the card corresponds with Henri's birthday, and not the date the card was actually sent. 

The other card is a photo of Grand Duke Henri, that was taken by Lola Velasco. I am not 100% sure when this photo was taken, but it is over a decade old. & possibly taken just after Henri's accession. Besides throwback photos for anniversaries or condolences, I think this is the oldest photo I've gotten from the Royals. 

This is only the 2nd time I have gotten a photo from the Luxembourg Royals. The first time was for Grand Duke Henri's birthday last year. 

We can tell from the back of the card, that is was created by the German Souvenir company, Creation Gross (Gross means big in German).  The company creates souvenirs that they then sell to gift shops, tourist attractions, etc. It is interesting that the Luxembourg Palace bought postcards from a 3rd party, instead of just creating photo cards themselves, or contacting a printer directly. 

I have received a postcard before from the Liechtenstein Royals, but that is something they created themselves. 

Back to Replies - Main Page

Prince Charles & Duchess Camilla 15th Wedding Anniversary Reply (2020)

A lovely reply arrived from the UK today. I had written to Prince Charles & Duchess Camilla in April to wish them a happy 15th wedding anniversary. 

The front of the envelope is the usual for the British Royals, featuring the red postmark from the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace.  On top of that is a postmark from the Mount Pleasant Mail Center, where most international mail in the London Area is processed before heading to Heathrow Airport. 

That postmark includes the message, "Royal Mail supporting youth mental health with Action for Children." Action for Children has been the Royal Mail's official charity to support since 2017. 

The back of the envelope features the Prince of Wales feathers. 

Inside is a letter from Claudia Spens, head of the correspondence section at Clarence House. The letter thanks me for my anniversary wishes and the good wishes I had sent following Prince Charles's coronavirus recovery. 

One interesting this is the letter says May 22nd, but the envelope is postmarked over 2 weeks later on June 6th. 

I also noticed that the letter doesn't use the term COVID-19, which is how Clarence House has been referring to it on social media, instead, Claudia used the more informal term "Coronavirus." 

The letter says: 

Dear Miss Daly,  

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall have asked me to thank you for your letter of 9th April, which you so kindly sent on the occasion of their 15th Wedding Anniversary.  

Their Royal Highnesses are most grateful to you for taking the trouble to write as you did. The Prince of Wales was enormously touched by your kind words of support following his recovery from Coronavirus.  

Their Royal Highnesses have asked me to send you their very best wishes and they hope that, at this difficult time, you and your family are keeping safe and well.  

Yours Sincerely,

Claudia Spens 

Back to Replies - Main Page

King Philippe of Belgium - 60th Birthday Reply (2020)

A lovely reply arrived today from Belgium. I had written to King Philippe last month to wish him a wonderful 60th birthday.

The Belgium Royals have a number of envelopes that they use. This is one of the most common with "Palais De Bruxelles" (Palace of Brussels) written on the front under a purple crown.

As this is an extra special birthday, this reply is nicer than usual. It is a lovely folded card, instead of the usual flat card for birthdays. The card is the same size as the family's annual Christmas card. And in terms of panel size is the same as Princess Elisabeth's 18th birthday reply last year.

The front of the card features King Philippe's monogram, under The Royal Crown of Belgium.  Although drawn differently, the crown is the same one as on the envelope. The monogram and border are embossed, which combined with the weight of the card give the card a very lovely feel.

The two letters on the monogram represent King Philippe's name in Belgium's 3 official languages: Filip (Dutch), Philippe (French, German).

Inside is a message in French. The Palace usually prints out cards in Dutch and French, at least. Most of the time, when you write English, you will get a French Reply. But I think it just depends on which card they have more left of. 

The message reads:

I thank you with all my heart for the wishes that you have so kindly addressed to me for my 60th birthday. 

We are going through an unprecedented crisis. But, together we will overcome this. 

I wish you lots of courage and patience during these difficult times.

Philippe 

The signature is printed on. This signature was used on the family's 2015-2017 Christmas cards. It is interesting that they didn't use the version of his signature from more recent Christmas cards. I wonder if they choose this older one specifically because they wanted a different signature than the recent Christmas card.  (And despite his going be Filip in Dutch, this same signature is used on the Dutch language version of this card.)

The photo is the same one used to mark the King's birthday on social media. The photo was taken as part of King Philippe's March 16th televised speech on the coronavirus. I think it was very fitting to use that photo here, as the birthday thank you touchings on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

--
This reply arrived a little over a month and a half after I wrote, which is an excellent response time, especially given the circumstances. But, I would not expect other royal offices to be so prompt. With most royal offices working with a reduced staff I expect we will see longer response times. (This is my first reply in 2 months, which is the longest I have gone without a reply since I started writing to the royals regularly.)

The postmark is from 7 days ago, so there wasn't much delay as the reply traveled overseas. The National Postal Service, in all 10 Current European Monarchies, is still sending/receiving international mail. And I have not heard of any Royal office refusing to accept mail.

Be aware, however, that some other countries have suspended international mail at this time. If you are from one of those countries, you will not be able to send or receive international mail until the suspension is lifted.

--
On a side note, as I said in previous posts I moved at the beginning of March. This is my first reply to a letter that I sent using new address. The Belgium Palace thankfully used my correct address, so the reply got safely to me.

Some Monarchies store your address & other information in a database. When I have moved a few years ago, there were some replies that got sent to my old address because they pulled the info off of their database. I know for sure the UK, Denmark & Monaco royals use a database, others probably do as well. And this issue with using my old address wasn't just a problem for a few months. A reply from Denmark was sent to my old address THREE years after I moved. (There was also a time when pretty much all of my mail from the UK Royals had the exact same spelling error because there was an error in their database.)

So, to help make it clear that my address has been changed, that they should update their database, should they have one, I included "New Address" in green on my envelope. And I plan on using this on all my Royal Mail for the next few months. I thought it was a very subtle way of indicating the address change. And, we will see if this prevents the problems I had last time.

Back to Replies - Main Page