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5 hours ago
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Jadzia Samuel,Penshurstand Nathan Bevan,South East
Hansons Auctioneers
The letter was written while the late queen was in Cornwall sometime between 1936 and 1940
A handwritten letter penned by Queen Elizabeth II as a child has been sold at auction for £25,000.
Bids of up to £4,000 had been expected for the one-page note, which is addressed to the head housemaid at Royal Lodge in Windsor and includes drawings of dogs, horses and children.
It was written while the then Princess Elizabeth was at Praa Sands in Cornwall sometime between 1936 and 1940, at which time she would have been between 10 and 12 years old.
Charles Hanson, from Hansons Auctioneers, described the reaction to Friday's sale in Penshurst, Kent, as "wild".
The letter also refers to primroses the late queen had picked, which she instructed be shared among staff at Royal Lodge.
She also asks if "the birds are well, and the goldfish haven't died".
The letter was one of several found addressed to Beatrice Stillman, the former head housemaid at Royal Lodge.
When Stillman's brother-in-law John Dicker was killed in an air raid in 1940, the Queen Mother invited his widow, Stillman's sister, and their two young daughters, Rene and Jean, to play with the princesses at Royal Lodge.
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The then princess would have been between 10 and 12 years old at the time
Jean Dicker's son, William Westacott, found an archive of letters in 2024 in a suitcase under his mother's bed after she died.
He said his aunt Rene "fondly" remembered meeting the royal family and recalled playing in a large playhouse in the Royal Lodge's garden.
Westacott, from Sevenoaks, said: "We knew the letters existed, but to read them in the flesh was a 'wow' moment."
Hansons Auctioneers
The letter was one of several discovered by William Westacott addressed to his great aunt
Hanson called the letter "something that the nation can rejoice at".
"In these difficult, testing times it makes us see a side of life that we can really enjoy," he added.
"It's remarkable how people latched onto it from as far away as New York and Hong Kong."
The childhood letter from Elizabeth II was found in a suitcase
Justin Matthews, Hansons' regional director for Kent and Sussex, said the "unique item" had given him "goosebumps" when he first saw it.
"I've been in the business a long time, but I've never come across anything like this," he added.
