Princess Diana’s personal letters including those describing ‘glorious’ honeymoon up for auction
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Princess Diana’s personal letters to Maud Pendrey, a former housekeeper at the Spencer family home at Althorp in Northamptonshire, are up for an upcoming auction in June.
The correspondences, along with Charles and Diana’s holiday cards, are part of a massive sale at Julien’s Auctions to be conducted later this month.
Princess Diana’s personal letters listed for auction
The collection of correspondence and holiday cards from the late Princess of Wales brings to the fore Diana’s signature humanity, per New York Post.
Diana’s fans attributed her the moniker “People’s Princess” for her humanity and her ways of interacting with the common masses. The letters, in essence, justified the moniker as they give insights into her personal thoughts, peppered with quirky humor.
From thoughts on her honeymoon with Charles, now King Charles III, to sharing delightful information about little princes William and Harry, Diana penned her personal thoughts in her letters to Mrs Pendery.
Several letters, handwritten by Lady Diana in blue and black ink under the letterheads of Buckingham Palace, Balmoral Castle, and Kensington Palace among others, offer glimpses of the late royal’s life as a wife and a mother.
In one of the letters, Diana described her honeymoon with Charles as “a tremendous success — and we had a glorious time.”
Shortly after the birth of William, in a letter from 1982, Diana described herself as an “extremely proud and lucky mother.”
She also gushed, “William has brought us such happiness and contentment, and consequently I cannot wait for masses more.”
In a follow-up letter from late September, Diana thanked Mrs Pendrey for her gifts to Prince William.
In her letter on Balmoral Castle letterhead, Diana wrote, “We are so thrilled & delighted with your wonderful cardigans — thank you very much for spoiling William, he doesn’t deserve it!”
She signed the letter with, “Take great care & much love from us all, Diana.”
In another letter from July 13, 1983, the late royal wrote, “When the helicopter took off from Althorp, we flew over your house and I just wondered if you’d seen me waving? … and Sarah’s [Sarah Ferguson, the Dutchess of York] baby is very sweet with extremely long fingers.”
Evidently, Princess Diana shared a warm relationship with Mrs Pendrey. In a July 1984 letter written on the letterhead of Highgrove, the princess talked about her pregnancy with Prince Harry.
Thanking the housekeeper, Diana said, “We were enormously touched by your card.” She added, “Unlike some named couples, we both remembered the occasion, & luckily thought that the three years had flown past.”
Talking about her pregnancy with Harry, “With the baby arriving soon, our lives seem to be very busy, we’d have it no other way.”
Princess Diana’s personal items also to be auctioned
The massive letter collection of Princess Diana is scheduled for an auction on June 27. The sale is hosted by Julien’s Auction in Los Angeles, California.
Apart from the letters, the collection also includes dresses, shoes, hats, and accessories used by Princess Diana. Holiday cards sent by Diana and Charles are also part of the collection.
Several holiday cards with Princes William and Harry will also be up for auction.
