March Q&A (2017)

As always, post your Royal Questions & I will get to them as soon as possible.

Question 1: To send a card to Prince George and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge what is the address? 

Answer: Mail for the Cambridges should be sent to Clarence House:

Clarence House
London SW1A  1BA
UNITED KINGDOM

You can find all the addresses for the Royals under the "Writing to the Royals" Tab. 

Question 2: Harry took Cressida Bonas to Melissa Percy wedding - lots of pics. So MM showing up at the Inskip wedding is not quite the big deal is it? 

Answer: Cressida was not there as Harry's Date. Cressida was invited because she is a friend of the couple, particularly the van Straubenzee family. Her being invited to the wedding had nothing to do with her dating Prince Harry. She ran in that circle long before she was introduced to Harry. 

Was as with Meghan Markle and the Inskip wedding, she really only knew the bride and groom through her relationship with Harry, and was only invited because of him. 

There were weddings, like the Guy Pelly in Memphis, that Cressida was not invited to. She wasn't close to the couple and being Prince Harry's girlfriend wasn't enough to get an invite. So it is definitely a big deal that Meghan got an invite to the Inskip wedding. I think this is the first time Harry has ever brought a date to a wedding. Previously any girlfriend had gotten their own invite because she was friends with the couple. 

Question 3: How does Prince Carl Philip introduce himself? Does he use Carl Philip? Or just one name?

Answer: He uses Carl Philip. Having two first names is very common in Sweden. His full name is Carl Philip Edmund Bertil. His friends call him Philip sometimes. 


Question 4: I recently heard that Clarence House is looking for someone to help to respond to many letters for royals. Do you know what qualifications has to have to get that job? 

Answer: The listing is no longer on their website, as I think they filled that post already. But I would guess you need basic written and verbal skills, discretion, etc.

The Job would mainly be opening and sorting mail, distributing it to offices within Clarence House, addressing envelopes, sending out the photo cards replys, etc. The letters sent out from Clarence House usually come for the head of the correspondence section (Claudia Spens) or one of the Private secretaries. So you wouldn't likely be writing a lot of letters yourself to people. But you may be dictated letters, or asked to do some research or make notes so the appropriate person has what they need to write their letter. 

Question 5: Would it be appropriate to write a letter to Rebecca Deacon for her nuptials yesterday?

Answer: Rebecca is very much aware that people know who she is, and she is in the spotlight a bit because of her job. But she is not a public official; she is a private citizen. Her wedding was a private, personal thing, and really had nothing to do with her job. So I do think it's a little awkward to send a letter to someone you don't know at their work about their wedding. There should be a distinction between one's personal life and one's work life. At work, you get work mail. At home, you get personal mail. Of course, with royals the lines between personal and work are blurred, and that does spill over into their staff as well. So I don't think it would be highly inappropriate. But I expect you would not get a reply. 

However, if you wanted to write to Rebecca about a work related thing that would be appropriate.  (I.e. send her your best wishes for the future following the news she is stepping down as Kate's Private Secretary.) We all love Kate and are very supportive of the work she does. And we know it's only possible through the hard work of all her staff. So a thank you to a valued member of Kate's team, who is leaving, is a nice thing to do. Than of course if you wanted to congratulate her on her wedding at the end of the letter, that's fine. I would just keep the main focus work related. I don't know if she or her office would reply. But given that it's work related it would be much more likely. 

Question 6: I received letters from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge signed by both Rebecca Deacon and Claudia Spens, is there a reason for this?


Answer: "Signed by both"? Do you mean one letter signed by both? Or one letter by Rebecca and one by Claudia?

Claudia Spens is the head of Clarence House's Correspondence Section, which handles Charles, Camilla, Cambridges, & Harry's mail. She writes most of the letters people get in reply. 

Rebecca Deacon is Kate's Private Secretary. Her office at Kensington Palace doesn't deal with much mail. They will get forwarded things from the correspondence section that need their attention. Also a section for them and the Royals to look at, to see what people are writing. The Royals obviously can read all of their mail, but they can be shown some select ones.