Notes and Letters from Diana

[royalanthropologist]

Legally speaking, letters belong to the recipient and they can do whatever they want with them including auction. It is difficult to say that they should be given to William and Harry. First of all William is so obsessed with privacy that it is likely that any letter he gets will never see the light of day. That means that the general public do not get to hear about the thoughts, feelings and personality of such a historical figure as Diana undoubtedly was.  At least if they auction, we get snippets about the person. Had Diana not told her story and consequently  brought a private crisis into the public domain, we would not be seeing some of the improvements in the royal family operation that we see today. Opening up can have its benefits in the long run.

On a side issue, I am intrigued by Diana's unfailing politeness when it came to dealing with correspondence and thanking people. That is something that is unique in public life. I have read many, many letters of Diana thinking about people and remembering important events in their lives. Do other royal family members do this? I know that Anne is quite abrupt and rude like her father while the queen is remote and impersonal, but what about the rest?

[TLLK]

I know that there are secretaries that handle the Queen's personal correspondence but TBH I've only seen thank you notes shared from Diana, William, and Kate to the media. However I do believe that royals do respond to the public when they receive gifts, cards and letters. I've read that to avoid the scenario of personal correspondence being auctioned off, the palaces turn to general form letters thanking people. I've read these types of letters from the royals in Spain, the NL and Denmark.  IMHO those who are likely to receive personal handwritten notes are in their inner circle of friends and family. They're the ones least likely to reveal those  pieces of correspondence.

[amabel]

I know that there are secretaries that handle the Queen's personal correspondence but TBH I've only seen thank you notes shared from Diana, William, and Kate to the media. However I do believe that royals do respond to the public when they receive gifts, cards and letters. I've read that to avoid the scenario of personal correspondence being auctioned off, the palaces turn to general form letters thanking people. I've read these types of letters from the royals in Spain, the NL and Denmark.  IMHO those who are likely to receive personal handwritten notes are in their inner circle of friends and family. They're the ones least likely to reveal those  pieces of correspondence.

Diana wrote handwritten notes to a lot of people, I think, not necessarily close people but those who might have met her and whom she helped with some problem....

[Jennifer]

The recipients of Princess Diana letters do have the option to put them up for auction, but as friends of her, one has to wonder if they think about how she may have felt if her personal thoughts and matters were revealed to the world like this? I think respecting the wishes of dead friends is important by not revealing too much of their information. I would do that for mine no matter how famous they were.

Letter from Diana, Princess of Wales Describes Honeymoon as "Perfect Opportunity to Catch Up on Sleep"

Letters from the late Diana, Princess of Wales, to her personal secretary are set to go up for auction in Gloucestershire next month.

Twenty-five lots from Diana's former personal secretary, Jane Parsons, will be auctioned off.

In one of the letters, Diana wrote that "The honeymoon was a perfect opportunity to catch up on sleep..."

Read more:
Letter from Diana, Princess of Wales Describes Honeymoon as "Perfect Opportunity to Catch Up on Sleep" – Royal Central