Friday, 5 June 2015

June Q & A

Post your Royal Questions & I will get to them as soon as possible. 

 Question 1: Any suggestions on what I should write to congratulate the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of Princess Charlotte?

Answer: You can write as much or as little as you would like. Anything from a card with a sentence congratulating them on the birth to a lengthy letter talking about your thoughts and feels on the occasion and them as parents. It is also still perfectly acceptable to write to them and congratulate them on the birth of Princess Charlotte even though it happened over a month ago.  You can do this up until the christening next month. After that I would if you haven't written to them and want to I would make the purpose of your letter more general or specific to a more recent event.

Question 2: Why did the letters arrive to St. James Palace instead of to Kensington Palace? 

So everyone is clear these are the tweets being referred too:

Answer: William, Catherine and Harry's mail should be sent to Clarence House where it is handled by Prince Charles's Staff.  The Royals staff at Kensington Palace doesn't actually answer the mail. It is all collected and taken to Clarence House and answered by the Correspondence Section.

Prince Charles' office at Clarence House actually overflows into St. James Palace. The two buildings are connected. So often when people say Clarence House, meaning Prince Charles office, they could actually be referring to some parts of St. James Palace. So this mail was stored in the overflow part of Prince Charles' office, but it was still answered by his staff.

William, Catherine and Harry's staff offices are in Kensington Palace with additional offices in St. James Palace as well.

Question 3: How long does it take a letter to get to the UK from the U.S.? 

Answer: It depends how the letter is sent, but in my experience with the British royals I receive their letter 5-7 days after it has been sent. It will differ slightly depending on where you live.


Question 4: Why isn't Chris O'Neil never really in the photos? 

Answer: Christopher O'Neill, the husband of Princess Madeleine of Sweden, decided for a number of reason not to receive a title when marrying Madeleine in 2013. Because he doesn't have a title, or a Swedish citizenship, he doesn't undertake Official Royal Duties. Which is in part why you don't see him in photos. Christopher continues to work in Finance and currently live in London, not Sweden. His wife and daughter Princess Leonore will relocate to London as well after the birth of the couple's 2nd child due latter this month.

Question 5: I read somewhere that the Royal Family isn't allowed to edit their pictures. Is that true?

Answer: No, I have never hear that, nor believe it to be true.


Question 6: Are you going to write to the Cambridge's for Princess Charlotte's christening? What would you write in that case?

Answer: I am most definitely going to write for Princess Charlotte's christening. Who would pass up the chance to get a post card sized photo of Princess Charlotte. My assumption is that they might use one of the photos just released of Prince George and Princess Charlotte taken at Anmer Hall by Catherine or one of William and Catherine leaving St. Mary's Hospital with Princess Charlotte on the day of her birth. There is usually a delay in changing the photos they mail out. So you might see the Christening photos used for Christmas, or if you write for some other reason latter on this year.

As far as what I'm going to write for Princess Charlotte's Christening:

 I will address the envelope to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. 

I will probably address the letter Dear William and Catherine, although you can go more formal by addressing it to Their Royal Highnesses, or extremely formal and archaic by writing the letter to their Private Secretary instead.  (Which is something you only do in modern times if you are writing to them for something or if you are some offical of some Government, Cooperation, Organization, Charity, etc.) How formal you get depend on the nature of your letter. 

I will then start by stating why I am writing. "I am writing to send you my sincerest congratulations following the christening of your daughter Princess Charlotte." I will them probably go on and talk about how lovely it looked or how important it is for children to have God Parents to guide them, talk about how big George has gotten, etc.

Then comes the middle part of the letter where it is a good place to make some sort of personal connection. Say something about Babies, Christenings, the importance of religion, etc. May be give some tips on handling two young children or important life lessons you hope they will pass on to Princess Charlotte and Prince George. Or bring up past Christening like Prince William or Harry's. Or talk about how proud Princess Diana would have been.

In the closing I would write something about how I hope that they have a wonderful summer. Or wish William good luck on his job. Or wish George a happy early birthday, etc. (Although I will probably write a separate letter for that).

Question 7: Are the Wessex's going to miss the Trooping?

Answer: Yes, they have another engagement the same day. They will be in Sweden attending the wedding of Prince Carl Philip and Sofia Hellqvist. The Couple also attended the Royal weddings of Prince Carl Phillip's two sisters Victoria in 2010 and Madeleine in 2013.


Question 8: Would it be appropriate to write to the Queen for her unofficial birthday this weekend? Also, would congratulating her on being the longest reigning monarch be appropriate? 

Answer: This Saturday is the Queen's "Official Birthday." It is the day the Public officially celebrates the Queen's birthday. The reason the Queen has an official birthday started with Edward VII who had a November birthday. This allowed the monarch's birthday to be celebrated in the summer, so that you can have nicer weather and outdoor celebrations. This also means you always celebrate the Monarch's Birthday on a Saturday. Queen Elizabeth's Official birthday is usually marked on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Saturday in June and is celebrated with the Trooping the Colour and the Queen's Birthday Honors.

Saturday is a day of public celebration and would defiantly be an appropriate occasion to write to the Queen. I don't think there would ever be an inappropriate occasion to write to the Queen, just inappropriate subject matter.  

Also it would most definitely be appropriate to mention that she will be the longest reigning British monarch latter this year, on September 10th. She wouldn't become the longest reigning monarch ever for another 20 years. 

I would even say that it is appropriate to write to the Queen and say that you are concerned for her health or ability to preform her duties as Queen and submit that you would be in support of her abdicating the throne, as long as it is writing respectfully. There is no reason you can't write to one of the royals and be critical or have differing opinions or beliefs as them. That is just as important for them to hear as all the voices of support. But once again this should be done respectfully.  

 The Queen's actual Birthday is April 21st and is usually celebrated privately.

Question 8a: She looks healthy and able to preform her duties, why would I tell her that I support her abdicating the throne, if she doesn't wish to do so. 

 Answer: That was just an example for something that would seem inappropriate to write to The Queen about, but could be done in an appropriate way.  The Queen is still in great health and does a lot of royal duties, but at the same time she is getting older and more of her duties are getting passed down to the younger generations. At some point her reign will have to end, either by her death or abdication. The Queen is only going to get older and have more trouble performing her royals duties. The time may come when people might seriously ask for the Queen to abdicate.

It is important that the Queen listens to the citizens of Great Britain and the Commonwealth and gains a understanding of where their thoughts and opinions lay.  Even if the Queen chooses to never abdicate, your opinion on the topic is still valid and is something she should hear. How else can she make a decision if she only hears one side or one opinion? 

You can write to the Queen and let her know she is doing a wonderful job and that you support her continued reign, but if and when you believe it is time for her to abdicate you should also feel able to write that as well. Just make sure you do so respectfully. 

 Question 9: Do you write to DOE for his Birthday?! Ideas? 

Answer: I did write to Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh for his Birthday on Wednesday, June 10th. There is still quite a large acceptable window for you to write to him for his birthday, I would say till the end of the month. After that I would make the purpose of your letter more general and wish him a belated birthday.

Ideas: 

  • Obviously I would wish him a Happy Birthday. 
  • Maybe then mention how great it is to see him continuing to do so many royal duties at his age and how that is an inspiration either to you, Britain or the younger royals and how they are growing up to be fine royals under the example Phillip and the Queen set of live long committed dedication to their duties and the Country. 
  • You could talk about lessons you have learned from him or his work, or a recent engagement he attended. Maybe one of his Charities is very important to you. 
  • You could talk about the delight of having Great Grandkids and the birth of Princess Charlotte. You could mention Princes Charlotte's Christening next month, which he will most certainly be attending. 
  • You could talk about one of his hobbies, or how the monarchy is changing and adapting to changing world (Social Media, Global Outreach), or how it's also not because the monarchy still stands for the same things today as it did 100 years ago and somethings never change, etc. 
  • You could write what the monarchy means to you. 
  • Or maybe you want to write about birthdays and what it means to get another year older. 
  • I would probably end by wishing him a happy summer or something like that.


You can pretty much write about what ever you want, there isn't a right or wrong answer. 

You letter or card can be incredibly short if you want, with only a few lines.

You can find out everything you need to know about Writing to the Royals here. 

Question 10: Is there going to be a live stream provided like at George's christening for Charlotte's on Sunday? 

Answer: I haven't heard anything about there being a live stream, Yet! But I'm thinking there will definitely be Media at the Church to cover the event with TV Camera. The video will definitely be online latter, I'm not sure about live. Given that it will be mid day on a Sunday and this isn't a huge event, I doubt they will actually be reporting live on TV. But a live feed is another matter. I think we will hear more in a day or two since new info about the Christening was just released today.


Question 11: Can you write to Prince William and Prince Harry for Princess Diana's bday? 

Answer: As I said in Question 8, "I don't think there would ever be an inappropriate occasion to write [...] Just inappropriate subject matter."  So feel free to write for any occasion, just be respectful, sincere and write because you have something to say. Don't write because you want a autograph or the cool response, but because you really care about the person, issue or event.

Question 12: If I wanted to write to Prince George for his birthday, to whom should I address it to?

Answer: I would address the letter to Prince George's parents, the postal address is:

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
Clarence House
London SW1A 1BA
UK

Inside the letter you can refer to them as TRH (Their Royal Highnesses), The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Princess Catherine, or William and Catherine depending on how formal your letter is.

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