Handwritten letter by Princess Diana expected to be sold for almost £2,000 at auction
A RARE letter handwritten by Princess Diana is expected to be sold for almost £2,000 at auction.
She penned the charming thank-you note when in her late teens before getting married.
The note, in Diana’s familiar sprawling writing, starts: ‘Dear All, Just a quick note to say an enormous thank you for all you organised and did over Christmas.’
She goes on: ‘As for that delicious box of chocolates, I have helped finish them off and now feel very large!
‘I do hope you enjoyed the day as I obviously did and again many many thanks for making Christmas Day so memorable.’
The letter ends: ‘with love from, Diana.’
Before marrying Prince Charles, Diana lived in a luxury flat at Coleherne Court, on Brompton Road, in South-West London.
Her letter is spread across two sides of personalised stationary, which includes her address and telephone number.
The property was given to Diana by her parents as a coming-of-age present in July 1979. Diana once said it was where she spent the happiest time of her life.
She moved into the flat almost immediately after it was given to her and furnished it in simple Habitat style. Diana lived with friends - Virginia Pitman, Caroline Pride and Ann Bolton - whom she charged £18-a-week rent.
She wrote the words 'Chief Chick' on her bedroom door so no-one would forget her landlady status, and was said to have imposed a strict cleaning rota.
Diana left the flat in February 1981 and moved into Clarence House, the Queen Mother's residence on the night before her engagement to Prince Charles was officially announced.
After the wedding in July, Diana's mother, Frances Shand Kydd, sold the flat to Japanese buyers for £100,000, twice as much as she originally paid for it.
One royal buff told The Sun: “Letters from this period of Diana’s life are very rare.
“It is written on December 28th, but we don’t know which year. It is very likely to have been 1980. The letter hints that Christmas was organised for her. She did not go to Windsor, where the royals spent Christmas, that year. And it was probably not 1979 as we understand she spent Christmas that year at Althorp. There is a big ‘Diana market’ in the States but the truth is that this letter could end up anywhere.”
The highest bid for the letter, on Julien’s Auctions website, was $700, or £525.
