Question 1: Will the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Attend Wimbledon?
Answer: Yes, They will attend on Wednesday July 8th. The Duke of Kent will also be present that day.
Question 2: Have you received a response from William's Birthday?
Answer: No I haven't yet. Prince William's birthday was 2 weeks ago, so it would be pretty amazing to receive a response in that short of time. It's usually any where between a month or two. My guess is that Clarence House is pretty busy with Mail given the Birth & Christening of Princess Charlotte and a number of other events and birthday happening in such a short time. I will be sure to blog the response once it comes.
Question 3: Have you gotten a reply from Prince Philips birthday?
Answer: Yes, I just got it today and was about to blog post about it! So expect that soon, as in a half hour! Prince Philip's birthday is about 10 days before William's, but I don't expect to necessarily get William's response in 10 days. Their mail is handled by different offices.
I once received a birthday reply for The Duchess of Cambridge (Which I sent in January) before I received a reply for my Christmas letter to the Cambridges (Which I sent in December).
I've also twice received 2 replies for my same letter.
Question 4: When did Prince Harry go to Afganistan the first time I know it was 2007/2008 but do you know the months/ dates?
Answer: I'm not sure on the exact dates of Prince Harry's first tour of Afghanistan. We were not told about tour until after the fact for security reasons. The embargoed news broke Feb 28th, 2008 by American Media. Prince Harry was pulled out at that time. I believe he started December 14ish, for what as suppose to be a 4 month tour.
Question 5: Do you ever get nervous when you wait for a reply...even wondering whether or not your card actually made it through the mail?! Have you ever NOT gotten a reply when sending mail to the royals?
(All the Addresses on this Blog are Correct, to the best of my knowledge, I've written to all of them, except Spain and Liechtenstein)
I also make sure to include the return address on the envelope as well as my Letter or Card. I currently have it written in my Letterhead. This will insure that even if my letter gets separated from their envelope they will still have my address.
For the most part I have always gotten a reply. The only People who don't reply are the Wessexs, Edward and Sophie. I believe they only send replies to people living in the UK, although I'm not sure about that. Or really big occasions. I've written for them for Christmas and 50th Birthdays and have received no replies. I know people in the US who have received replies from them years ago, but not recent.
I don't think that I get Nervous. I've gotten replies 60+ days latter, so you get use to waiting. I've also received a reply immediately when my letter was arrived at their office, so it varies.
Question 6: When do the Middletons and Will & Kate usually go to Mustique?
I don't know exactly how long the Middletons have been going to Mustique, but it's been an annual thing for at least a decade.
Question 7: I thought Sarah Ferguson was stripped of her title "Duchess of York". But at the Royal Ascot her name tag said Sarah Duchess of York?
Answer: It's complicated. Basically when Sarah was married she was Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York and now she is Sarah, Duchess of York. She lost both the HRH and "The" in the divorce. Which supposedly make a big deal.
"The Duchess" means your married, without the "The", with the first name, means your divorced, but haven't remarried because then you will lost the title completely.
It would be incorrect to say Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge or Sophie, Countess of Wessex because that denotes they are divorced. But you can however call them Duchess Catherine or Countess Sophie. I've had a person continuously correct me out for using Sophie, Countess of Wessex instead of the Countess of Wessex, but for the most part no one really cares about that level of formality.
Question 8: What do you think the Palace does with all the letters/cards it receives?
Answer: (Pretty Much) Every card or letter sent to the Palace (or another Royal Residence) gets read and responded to. After that I'm not too sure what happens to all the letters and cards. We would all hate to think that they get thrown out, but of course there may not be space or necessity to keep every letter and card sent to a royal.
Any Official or Personal correspondences, journals, speeches, etc. are preserved by The Royal Archives. My guess is important letters and card sent from the public are also preserved. I'm not really sure about the others.
I was able to find a bunch of information regarding gifts sent to royals:
http://www.royal.gov.uk/LatestNewsandDiary/Pressreleases/2003/Guidelinesandproceduresrelatingtogifts.aspx
There is also a really nice documentary about the British Monarchy done by BBC. They spend a few minutes talking about the Queen's Ladies-in-Waiting answering letters.
https://youtu.be/SL8wxXcsSRI?t=40m4s
Question 9: What is the ring that Pippa and James wear on their pinky?
Answer: The ring is their signet ring, it reportedly bears either their family crest or a Acorn. Historically, a signet ring was used to press a person's coat of arms or emblem into wax to seal and mark letter or documents. The Middleton's were granted a Coat of Arms when Catherine got engaged.
Carole Middleton also wears a Signet Ring, along with a number of other aristocrats and Royals, including Prince Charles and Camilla.
Question 10: When you send your personal letters (i.e. birthday cards, etc.) do you type them, hand write them, or purchase cards from a gift store?
Answer: I usually type my letters. My hand writing is a little messy, so I think typing it makes it look much nicer. But there are times when I will choose to handwrite my letter. The choice is up to you. You want your letter to be personal and sincere, but also legible.
You can also purchase a remade card, but I often feel those lack a personal touch. Royals get hundreds of pieces of mail each day. And a generic card will get quickly glanced at and then move on. The Correspondence Section or a Private Secretary will spend more time looking at (and possibly replying to) a more personal letter or card. Since the Royals can only look at selection of the letters and cards, their Private secretary will more likely forward the more personal and touching ones.
That doesn't mean you need to write something long and elaborate. A few carefully chosen words or lines can go a long way. As I said before it is about being personal and sincere. Do what ever you think is best and allows you to write comfortably.
Question 11: Was Rebecca Deacon at Princess Charlotte's Christening?
Answer: Yes, she was! Even though this was a private family event, it still required a lot of planning, organizing and coordinating. There were over 3,500 Well-Wishers at the church, a number of photographers, journalists, news reporters, camera men, security, etc.
Question 12: Do the Royals (William and Catherine) like Niraj Tanna??
Answer: Ummm... The Royals obviously have a interesting relationship with the press. They need them to promote their charity work, but don't want them butting into their Private Lives. As far as liking Niraj Tanna? They have sued her a few times for taking Paparazzi Photos, so..... (Kate playing Tennis Christmas Day 2009, "Stalking" Prince George and Nanny). But on the Flip side you also have photographers like Arthur Edwards, who has been The SUN Royal Photographer for decades, and has a good relationship with Royals.
Question 13: I sent out a card for Princess Charlotte's birth two months ago and I still haven't got a reply back yet? Do you think they're still processing all that mail yet!!
It always takes longer for them to reply to for big important events when everyone is writing. Usually it doesn't take this long, but it can happen.
Question 14: Does it matter whether you send your letter with USPS (United State Postal Service) or UPS (United Parcel Service)?
Question 15: Do you think the Cambridges are going to release a photo for Prince George's Birthday like they did last year ?
Last year it made sense for the Cambridges to release a photo for George's birthday. We hadn't seen him in over 3 months. We didn't have nearly as many photo of George as we do now, so the media was constantly having to reuse the same few images had. These pictures were getting tired and out-of-date, given how much a child grows and develops.
Think back to when George was born, before the 1st official pics by Michael Middleton were released. We kept on seeing the media: crop, flip, rotate, or change the color of Kate's dress in order to make the pics of George leaving the Hospital new and different than all the other thousand of articles about the New Baby, Prince George.
This year, however, we've had 4 official photo/ appearances of Prince George in the last 3 months. This totally breaks from the one picture every 3-4 months we had seen with the Cambridges previously. In fact the last pictures released of Prince George (from Charlotte's Christening) was released just 2 weeks before his 2nd birthday. The media has plenty of official recent photo of Prince George to use and I don't see any need for a new photo to be released.
We have been spoiled over the last 3 months with all the pictures. I don't expect this pattern to continue. The Cambridges didn't release all this pictures for the fun of it, but because all of them were required by Royal Tradition. They had to pose on the steps of Lindo Wing with their new baby, had to release the 1st official pictures shortly after, & had to release Christening photos. For the most part the Cambridges want to keep their children out of the lime light.
I don't see as necessary for the Cambridge's to release a photo for Prince George's birthday. But they may surprise us with another lucky treat. If they do, I would expect it to be another photo from Charlotte's Christening. That way, we get a photo for Prince George's birthday, but they don't have to make a big deal about it. They can just release one of the photos they all ready had, but didn't release.
If they do release a photo for George's birthday then the Cambridges are setting a precedent. And I think we could then expect them to release a photo for every birthday in the coming years.
List of Official Photographs of Prince George
Question 16: I still haven't gotten a reply from the Queen and I sent the letter with Philip's. And I got his reply a few weeks ago on
Responses take 1-2 months. So if you sent your letter in late May or more recently, we are still in a perfectly normal response window. I assume these were letters for Phillip's Birthday and Trooping the Colours, meaning you sent them beginning of June.
Philip's office sent out a form letter for his birthday. Meaning it was one letter they printed out and sent to everyone. The Addresses were printed onto labels. So instead of having having your letter next to them as they sent this response, the person had a sheet of labels with different people's address, who had all written for Philip's birthday.
The Queen, however, will most likely respond with a letter written for you in response to your letter. This will be a more personal response and written by one of her Ladies-in-Waiting. It will have a lot of generic language, but it is usually obvious that the person has read and is responding specifically to your letter. This process of writing a letter for each individual take a lot more time, than sticking a address label on envelope already stuffed with a form letter inside.
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