Newly discovered handwritten letters and cards from the late Princess Diana are set to be sold at an upcoming auction. The personal letters are believed to contain “intimate” messages from the Princess of Wales to her Royal Family’s former housekeeper. The letters and cards date back to the early 1980s.
The intimate writings had been sent to Violet Collision, who was better known as just “Collie” to Diana. Collision was the former housekeeper at Park House on the Sandringham Estate, where Diana spent most of her upbringing in northeast England. Collie and Diana maintained a close relationship, along with Diana’s children, Prince William and Harry. Many of the handwritten letters are thank you notes to Collie from Diana for the gifts she had given to the Royal Family, while others are Christmas and holiday cards. The 40-year-old letters are expected to sell for thousands of pounds at the upcoming Stansted Mountfitchet auction on July 30th. One of the most popular letters is one written on Buckingham Palace notepaper, which was sent to Collie from Diana three weeks before her marriage to Prince Charles.
Luke McDonald, the director of Sworders Auctioneers, described the handwritten letters as “so intimate”. McDonald stated that the personal notes were not meant to be known outside of the Royal Family’s inner circle. McDonald further explained that Princess Diana’s thank you letters for even the smallest gifts showed how “generous and caring” Diana was.
Collie welcomed the birth of Diana and her three siblings while serving at the Sandringham Estate and even followed Diana’s mother, Frances, to London in 1967 after her marriage fell apart. Not long after, Collie returned to Sandringham to retire. McDonald stated that Diana’s childhood home held a special place in her heart, as he revealed that Diana would sneak back to Sandringham without security to have tea with Collie. Collie remained close to Diana and her family until she died in 2013.
