A Handwritten Letter from Princess Diana at Auction

A handwritten letter from Princess Diana to her close friend Dudley Poplack has emerged for auction. The letter was written as Diana turned thirty and in it she wonders what her thirties will have in store for her.

The letter is written on Kensington Palace-headed notepaper and is dated June 27, 1991 – four days before her 30th birthday. Only one year later, Diana separated from her husband Prince Charles, and six years later she was killed in a Paris car crash.

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The letter is addressed to ‘Dearest Dudley’. According to Express, this is an interior designer whom Diana met in 1981 when he was asked to renovate Highgrove House, the Gloucestershire home of her and Prince Charles. In the letter she thanks Poplack for the three drawings he gave her for her 30th birthday. 

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Although the letter is dated before her birthday, in it, Diana confessed that she already opened the presents before the big day: “Since when have I be (sic) able to keep a present for the right day & I'm afraid your three wonderful drawings were no exception!"

"I am deeply touched to be given something that means such a lot to our family… I do wonder what the next ten years will bring, the last ten I have learnt a great deal in an interesting way!"

She ends the with: "So many thanks, Dudley, for my pictures and my love too, from, Diana." 

That the princess ponders her future is made all the more tragic by her death on August 31, 1997, at just 36. Dudley Poplack himself died in 2005, aged 74. This letter to him has emerged 29 years after it was written and, according to Express, has been put up for auction by a retired autograph and manuscripts dealer. 

The letter is coming up for auction just as a letter from King George IV to his speech therapist has sold for £76,250 ($97,500). This particular letter was written at Windsor Castle and was sold with a silver-gilt cigarette case. 

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According to Royal Central, the newly-crowned king, portrayed by Colin Firth in the Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech (2010), wrote to Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist who had been helping with his stutter, five days after his coronation. The May 17, 1919 letter encloses: “You know how anxious I was to get my responses right in the abbey, but my mind was finally set at ease tonight. Not a moment’s hesitation or mistake!”

King George VI continues to thank Logue “not only for your invaluable help with my speech, but for your devoted friendship and encouragement,” and included the cigarette case with his royal cypher as a token of gratitude.

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