Queen Elizabeth Had a Sweet Message About 5-Month-Old Prince Charles in a Resurfaced 1949 Letter
When Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne in 1952, she was already a mother of two. Recently, a handwritten letter she wrote in April 1949 to a friend named Richard, offered a rare description of her eldest, Prince Charles, who was born after grueling 30 hours of labor. The letter was written on Buckingham Palace notepaper and recently fetched a whopping price at a Boston auction.
In the letter, the late Queen detailed how she was jealous of her pal's nephew who had lush hair as compared to young Charles who had very little as a 5-year-old. As reported by the Mirror, it read, "I was so pleased to receive your letter of good wishes for my birthday...it was most kind of you to remember me. Our son is growing very fast and is already trying to sit up. He is most affable and laughs a great deal. I hope your nephew is well. I was very envious of his luxurious hair in the photograph of his christening." She added, "I hope Ela's baby is going well, too. I expect you are a busy uncle, now! It must have been a wonderful family gathering for Easter and great fun, too! I hope we shall meet again before too long."
The letter, simply signed as 'Elizabeth', was released by a private collector. It fetched £1,600 ($2,090) at the RR Auction in Boston. Just last month, another heartfelt letter also hit the auction block. This one was written by a five-year-old Charles in 1954. In it, he expressed his love for his 'dear Papa' while his parents were away on a two-month tour of Australia. That touching note, written in bold block letters on Buckingham Palace stationery, went for an impressive £5,700. He wrote, “Dear Papa, I am longing to see you on the ship. Love from Charles.” The back of the letter was filled with crosses, symbolizing kisses.
Reflecting on the late Queen's early relationship with Charles, author Kitty Kelley revealed that Elizabeth didn't get to see Charles take his first steps. The future king's first word was also reported to be 'Nana', as he shared a strong bond with his nanny rather than his mum at the time. Elizabeth's relationship with her children, Charles and Princess Anne, changed significantly when she became the Queen at the young age of 25. She had to juggle the difficulties of being a working mother; a role that wasn't common at the time.
However, her profound love for horses later helped forge a bond with Charles when she decided to teach him how to ride. Charles and Anne’s childhood with their mother is widely known to have been quite different from those of their younger siblings, Princes Andrew and Edward, who grew up with a very different version of Elizabeth as a parent, Nicki Swift reported. Royal biographer, Clive Irving, once argued, "She [was] more openly affectionate to Andrew and more forgiving...than she [was] towards Charles."
