(H.R.H. Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh.) 1969 Autograph Letter Signed, to The Honourable Gerald Lascelles, Queen Elizabeth II's First Cousin.
A very touching Autograph Letter Signed (ALS) by H.R.H. Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, following the death of his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg (1885-1969), to The Honourable Gerald Lascelles, Queen Elizabeth II's First Cousin. Personal correspondence between senior members of the British Royal Family are exceptionally rare to encounter in commerce.
ALS. 1pp. on 1 folded sheet of Windsor Castle black edged mourning notepaper, dated 11 December (1969), near fine.
The letter reads as follows:
“Dear Gerald,
Thanks so much for your letter.
Considering everything that has happened in the world and to my mother, it's an extraordinary circumstance that she should be born and buried here at Windsor.
Please thank Angela for her kind thoughts.
Yours ever
Philip"
Provenance: The letter was acquired from Angela Lascelles’ estate by George Hancock Rare Books.
Gerald Lascelles (1924-1998) was a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and titled The Honourable Gerald Lascelles. Angela Lascelles (née Dowding; 1919-2007) was a British actress, who married The Honourable Gerald Lascelles in July 1952 at St Margarets’s Church, Westminster.
Prince Philip wrote this letter to The Honourable Gerald Lascelles just six days after the death of his mother at Buckingham Palace on 5 December 1969.
Princess Alice of Battenberg was born in Windsor Castle on 25 February 1885 as Princess Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Marie to Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Her great-grandmother, and godmother, Queen Victoria, was present at her birth. "Princess Alice grew up mostly at her parents’ residences in Germany, but visited Windsor Castle regularly and Queen Victoria’s Journals have several references to her being taken out for drives with the queen." (Royal Collection Trust.)
"Not long before her death Princess Alice expressed the wish to be buried in Jerusalem, next to her aunt, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, who, like Princess Alice, had become a nun and had founded a convent. The Grand Duchess Fyodorovna was killed during the Russian revolution and her remains were buried in the Church of Maria Magdalene in the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem. In 1988, nineteen years after her death, Princess Alice’s coffin was transferred to the crypt in Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
In 1993 Yad Vashem bestowed the title of Righteous Among the Nations on Princess Alice. A year later, her children, Prince Philip – the Duke of Edinburgh – and Princess George of Hanover travelled to Yad Vashem and planted the tree in her honour." (The World Holocaust Memorial Centre.)
During the ceremony, Prince Philip said in reference to his mother's sheltering of persecuted Jewish people during World War Two:
"I suspect that it never occurred to her that her action was in any way special. She was a person with deep religious faith and she would have considered it to be a totally human action to fellow human beings in distress." (The World Holocaust Memorial Centre.)
Please contact us for shipping costs if ordering from outside the UK.
A very touching Autograph Letter Signed (ALS) by H.R.H. Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, following the death of his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg (1885-1969), to The Honourable Gerald Lascelles, Queen Elizabeth II's First Cousin. Personal correspondence between senior members of the British Royal Family are exceptionally rare to encounter in commerce.
ALS. 1pp. on 1 folded sheet of Windsor Castle black edged mourning notepaper, dated 11 December (1969), near fine.
The letter reads as follows:
“Dear Gerald,
Thanks so much for your letter.
Considering everything that has happened in the world and to my mother, it's an extraordinary circumstance that she should be born and buried here at Windsor.
Please thank Angela for her kind thoughts.
Yours ever
Philip"
Provenance: The letter was acquired from Angela Lascelles’ estate by George Hancock Rare Books.
Gerald Lascelles (1924-1998) was a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and titled The Honourable Gerald Lascelles. Angela Lascelles (née Dowding; 1919-2007) was a British actress, who married The Honourable Gerald Lascelles in July 1952 at St Margarets’s Church, Westminster.
Prince Philip wrote this letter to The Honourable Gerald Lascelles just six days after the death of his mother at Buckingham Palace on 5 December 1969.
Princess Alice of Battenberg was born in Windsor Castle on 25 February 1885 as Princess Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Marie to Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Her great-grandmother, and godmother, Queen Victoria, was present at her birth. "Princess Alice grew up mostly at her parents’ residences in Germany, but visited Windsor Castle regularly and Queen Victoria’s Journals have several references to her being taken out for drives with the queen." (Royal Collection Trust.)
"Not long before her death Princess Alice expressed the wish to be buried in Jerusalem, next to her aunt, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, who, like Princess Alice, had become a nun and had founded a convent. The Grand Duchess Fyodorovna was killed during the Russian revolution and her remains were buried in the Church of Maria Magdalene in the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem. In 1988, nineteen years after her death, Princess Alice’s coffin was transferred to the crypt in Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
In 1993 Yad Vashem bestowed the title of Righteous Among the Nations on Princess Alice. A year later, her children, Prince Philip – the Duke of Edinburgh – and Princess George of Hanover travelled to Yad Vashem and planted the tree in her honour." (The World Holocaust Memorial Centre.)
During the ceremony, Prince Philip said in reference to his mother's sheltering of persecuted Jewish people during World War Two:
"I suspect that it never occurred to her that her action was in any way special. She was a person with deep religious faith and she would have considered it to be a totally human action to fellow human beings in distress." (The World Holocaust Memorial Centre.)
Please contact us for shipping costs if ordering from outside the UK.
A very touching Autograph Letter Signed (ALS) by H.R.H. Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, following the death of his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg (1885-1969), to The Honourable Gerald Lascelles, Queen Elizabeth II's First Cousin. Personal correspondence between senior members of the British Royal Family are exceptionally rare to encounter in commerce.
ALS. 1pp. on 1 folded sheet of Windsor Castle black edged mourning notepaper, dated 11 December (1969), near fine.
The letter reads as follows:
“Dear Gerald,
Thanks so much for your letter.
Considering everything that has happened in the world and to my mother, it's an extraordinary circumstance that she should be born and buried here at Windsor.
Please thank Angela for her kind thoughts.
Yours ever
Philip"
Provenance: The letter was acquired from Angela Lascelles’ estate by George Hancock Rare Books.
Gerald Lascelles (1924-1998) was a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and titled The Honourable Gerald Lascelles. Angela Lascelles (née Dowding; 1919-2007) was a British actress, who married The Honourable Gerald Lascelles in July 1952 at St Margarets’s Church, Westminster.
Prince Philip wrote this letter to The Honourable Gerald Lascelles just six days after the death of his mother at Buckingham Palace on 5 December 1969.
Princess Alice of Battenberg was born in Windsor Castle on 25 February 1885 as Princess Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Marie to Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Her great-grandmother, and godmother, Queen Victoria, was present at her birth. "Princess Alice grew up mostly at her parents’ residences in Germany, but visited Windsor Castle regularly and Queen Victoria’s Journals have several references to her being taken out for drives with the queen." (Royal Collection Trust.)
"Not long before her death Princess Alice expressed the wish to be buried in Jerusalem, next to her aunt, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, who, like Princess Alice, had become a nun and had founded a convent. The Grand Duchess Fyodorovna was killed during the Russian revolution and her remains were buried in the Church of Maria Magdalene in the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem. In 1988, nineteen years after her death, Princess Alice’s coffin was transferred to the crypt in Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
In 1993 Yad Vashem bestowed the title of Righteous Among the Nations on Princess Alice. A year later, her children, Prince Philip – the Duke of Edinburgh – and Princess George of Hanover travelled to Yad Vashem and planted the tree in her honour." (The World Holocaust Memorial Centre.)
During the ceremony, Prince Philip said in reference to his mother's sheltering of persecuted Jewish people during World War Two:
"I suspect that it never occurred to her that her action was in any way special. She was a person with deep religious faith and she would have considered it to be a totally human action to fellow human beings in distress." (The World Holocaust Memorial Centre.)
Please contact us for shipping costs if ordering from outside the UK.