Nine letters written by Princess Diana in the early years of her doomed marriage to Prince Charles are to sell for up to £20,000 at auction.
The first letter is dated 14 August 1981, two days after Diana and Charles returned to Balmoral from their two-week honeymoon cruise aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia.
She told Maud Pendrey, her family’s former housekeeper, that their honeymoon was a “tremendous success” and said she and Charles had a “glorious time.”
However, his words contradicted what he later told his voice coach in extracts that were screened in a Channel 4 documentary.
“On our honeymoon, she gets cufflinks on her wrists,” she said. “Two C’s intertwined like the ‘C’ in Chanel. I understand. It was known exactly. So I said, ‘Camilla gave them to you, didn’t she?'”
“He said, ‘Yeah, so what’s up?’ They’re a gift from a friend.” And boy, we had a fight. Jealousy, total jealousy. And it was a very good idea – both “C’s – but it wasn’t that smart.”
Other letters to Mrs. Pendrey reveal Diana’s happiness at motherhood. In one, she described how she wanted “many more” babies after Prince William’s birth on June 21, 1982.
Nine letters written by Princess Diana in the early years of her marriage to Prince Charles are to sell for up to £20,000 at auction. Above: Charles and Diana on the grounds of Balmoral during their honeymoon, August 1981.
The first letter is dated August 14, 1981, two days after Diana and Charles returned to Balmoral from their two-week honeymoon cruise aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia. She told Maud Pendrey, her family’s former housekeeper, that her honeymoon had been a “tremendous success” and that she and Charles had had a “glorious time.”
She wrote on September 8 from Balmoral Castle: ‘Attached is a photograph of an extremely proud and lucky mother. I was wondering if you’d like it!’
In her August 1981 letter, written from Althorp in Northamptonshire, Diana said: “I hope you were not too tired after all the wedding activities and that you could see plenty from where your seats were,” she wrote.
‘The honeymoon was a tremendous success and we had a great time regaining our lost energy and sleep.
‘I just wanted to let you two know how deeply touched I am by your thoughtfulness and again a million thanks. Endless love and affection. Diana.’
Author Penny Junor also described in her book The Duchess that Diana’s differences with Charles arose on their honeymoon.
While the future king imagined swimming, reading, painting and writing letters of gratitude, Diana hoped to chat.
“He had taken his watercolors, some canvases, and a stack of books by the Afrikaner mystic and writer Laurens van der Post, which he hoped he and Diana could share and then discuss in the evenings,” Junor wrote.
Other letters to Mrs Pendrey reveal Diana’s happiness at motherhood. In one, she described how she wanted ‘many more’ babies after Prince William was born on 21 June 1982. She wrote on 8 September from Balmoral Castle: ‘Enclosed is a picture of an extremely proud and lucky mother and I was simply wondering if you would!’
On September 25, 1982, in a thank you letter, Diana said: “We are very excited and delighted with your wonderful cardigans.”
‘Diana, however, was not a great reader. She hated her miserable books and was offended that he preferred to bury his head in one of them rather than sit and talk to her.
She also resented his sitting for hours at her easel, and they had many heated fights.
“One day, when Charles was painting on the terrace of the Britannia, he went off to look at something for half an hour. He returned and discovered that she had destroyed his painting and all of her materials.
In the letter of September 8, Diana added: ‘William has brought us so much happiness and satisfaction and, consequently, I cannot wait to receive more masses.
“We are in Scotland until the end of October, which is especially scary but very appreciated.”
And on September 25, in a thank you letter, she said: ‘We are very excited and delighted with your wonderful cardigans.
‘Thank you so much for spoiling William. He does not deserve it! At the rate she’s growing, it won’t be long before cardigans fit her!’
Two years later, when she was pregnant with Prince Harry, she still seemed content and later revealed that she and Charles were closer during her second pregnancy.
“It was very kind of you to remember us on our wedding anniversary,” he wrote from Highgrove on July 29.
Charles and Diana after returning to RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland after their honeymoon, September 1981.
On December 24, 1986, Diana wrote to Mrs. Pendrey to express her condolences on the loss of her husband. She said: “I wanted to write and say how sad I was to find out about Mr Pendrey.”
‘We were greatly touched by your card and I just wanted to write to say thank you very much.
‘Unlike some married couples, we both remembered the occasion and thankfully thought the three years had flown by.
‘With the baby arriving soon, our lives seem very busy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way!’
In another letter, Diana revealed her sense of humor and affection for Mrs. Pendrey and her husband, the butler Ainslie.
She wrote: “When the helicopter took off from Althorp yesterday we flew over your house and I was wondering if you had seen me waving…”
‘The family seems to be constantly expanding and Sarah’s baby is very sweet and has extremely long fingers.
‘I just wanted you both to know that I must have seen one of the Pendreys. She was waving frantically!!’
The last two letters were written after Diana began her affair with James Hewitt, a British Army cavalry officer, who became her riding instructor, in 1986.
The first shows his compassionate side: “I wanted to write and say how sad I felt when I heard about Mr. Pendrey,” he wrote on December 24, after Ainslie’s death.
“I can only imagine how empty you must feel when something like this happens.”
The second, written two years later, once again showed his good manners.
“It was very kind of you to send us a beautiful card for our anniversary; we were delighted to receive it and very touched by your thoughtfulness,” she said.
It has been 22 years since the letters first appeared in public.
They were sold for £22,000 by Keys auction house, in Aylsham, Norfolk, to hotelier Michael Rockall, who exhibited them at Whittlebury Hall, in Towcester, Northamptonshire.
“I think this collection is incredibly exciting and I’m delighted to have purchased it,” he said at the time.
‘The price was pretty close to the level we wanted to get to and I thought it could be sold abroad.
“I firmly believe that something like this should stay in England.
Charles and Diana meet on the banks of the River Dee in the grounds of Balmoral during their honeymoon, August 1981.
“I consider it a particularly personal collection that the princess wrote to someone she had known personally for a long time.”
When the hotel merged with the local golf course, the collection, which also includes 14 Christmas cards, a signed photograph and a royal wedding invitation, became the property of new owners Jeff and Carol Sargeant.
They will be sold through California-based Julien’s Auctions later today with a top estimate of $28,000 (£23,000).
The auction house said on its website: “The collection of letters, including thank-you notes, Christmas greetings and other correspondence, offers a rare glimpse into Diana’s life beyond her carefully crafted public image.”
‘In her own elegant script, Diana’s warmth and genuine connection with others shine.
“These letters reveal a woman who, despite her royal status, remained steadfast and grateful for the people in her life, from her staff to her closest confidants.”
Diana’s marriage to Charles ended in divorce in August 1996, a year before she died in a car accident in Paris.
The king married Queen Camilla in 2005.
Claudia Joseph is the author of Diana: A Life in Dresses, £40 from ACC Art Books.