Bid flurry for royal letters

Source: Agencies  |   2008-7-7  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

COLLECTORS paid thousands of pounds at the weekend for letters from British royalty to a trusted servant, including a note from the late Queen Mother Elizabeth requesting the aide to pack bottles of gin and Dubonnet for an outing, "in case it is needed."

The undated note sold for 16,000 pounds (US$32,000) at an auction of mementoes belonging to royal servant William Tallon.

Tallon, nicknamed "Backstairs Billy" by the press, joined the royal household at age 15 and served the family for 51 years, rising to become the queen mother's steward and Page of the Backstairs. He died in November, aged 72. His vast collection of royal memorabilia includes photographs, paintings, gifts, letters and Christmas cards, and gives an insight into the informal side of life in the royal family.

The queen mother's letter to Tallon had been expected to sell for about 300 pounds but drew a flurry of telephone bids.

In it, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II requested lunch outdoors and said she wanted to take along "two small bottles of Dubonnet and gin ... in case it is needed."

A 1982 letter from Princess Diana telling Tallon about the birth of her first child, Prince William, sold for 5,000 pounds.

"We are not sure at the moment what has hit us, except a very strong pair of lungs!" the princess wrote. "Both parents are making little sense, we just seem to spend most of our time gazing at this tiny person!"

Another letter, in which Diana thanked Tallon for putting flowers in her room before the "great day" of her July 29, 1981, wedding, sold for 4,200 pounds.

The sale also included items from the collection of Tallon's long-term partner Reginald Wilcock, an underbutler in the royal household. Tallon inherited his memorabilia when Wilcock died in 2001.

The top price of the day was 30,000 pounds for a portrait of the Queen Mother.