Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth's Personal Letters to Photographer Revealed
Photographer Alan Maxwell's letters from Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth were recently sold at an auction.
Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth's private letters show a different side to the royals, as the two were quite funny behind closed doors.
Elizabeth and Diana's notes, which were part of photographer Alan Maxwell's private collection, were recently sold at an auction.
"Please check the print with the negatives to find out which is missing — eaten by the puppies! ER," one message from Her Majesty read.
"Dear Mr. Maxwell, a very special thank you for coming to our rescue at such short notice," Diana told Maxwell after he snapped pictures of the then-Princess of Wales.
"I did appreciate enormously the speed in which the photographs arrived here and am only sorry for the trouble we must have caused! Yours most sincerely, Diana," she continued.
Aside from Diana and Elizabeth's warm relationship with Maxwell, King Charles was also fond of the artist.
"Dear Mr Maxwell, I just wanted to thank you so much for all the time and effort you put into producing possible Christmas cards for me this year," Charles penned. "I couldn't be more pleased with what you have achieved from some pretty unpromising material!"
"I thought you did wonders in interpreting my ideas of having a card made up of three small pictures, and only narrowly preferred the group version in the end. I only hope it is appreciated by several thousand recipients," the monarch stressed.
Despite the royals' reserved reputation, Charles was appreciative of Maxwell's contributions to The Crown.
"I am sorry that my ridiculously congested program meant that you had a fruitless journey to London and that I did not have an opportunity to congratulate you in person, but did want you to know how grateful I am for all you have done on this and other projects," the former Prince of Wales stated.
"What on Earth would I do without you?! Yours sincerely, Charles," he signed the note.
Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, revealed that people were eager to get their hands on these mementos.
"Buyers from the U.K., the U.S.A. and Europe competed for these wonderful finds," Hanson told an outlet. "Mr. Maxwell assisted the royal family for decades. He was a man of absolute discretion."
"As well as managing general photo requests, he printed and framed Christmas cards," Hanson added of Maxwell's work.
In recent years, Kate Middleton and Prince William have faced photo editing controversies, but Hanson highlighted the historic evolution of how the royals communicate today.
"In a digital age, it's easy to forget people had to send off films to be developed," Hanson noted.
"The royal family, among the most-photographed people in the world, relied on Mr Maxwell for their photographic needs, and he was a perfectionist," he concluded.
The letters and Hanson were quoted by The Sun.
