Description:Amongst Duchess Millicents correspondence are many letters from her three surviving children, George Rosemary and Alastair. Many of the letters were written by the children whilst on holiday or away at school.
The collection includes a letter from Lady Rosemary written on beautifully decorated writing paper. Lady Rosemary thanks her mother for an earlier letter before adding ‘I am sorry to say Ruttie thinks I have got the measles but I am sure I have not got them because I feel quite well.’
Rosemary’s letters tell us about the activities which the children enjoyed on holiday during this period, including rides in motorcars, hunting and fishing. One letter written by Rosemary from Dunrobin castle reads ‘we went for a picnic yesterday and I fished but I did not catch anything’. Letters dated February 1906 tell us that the weather in Trentham was icy cold, Rosemary noting that the lake being frozen. In another letter Rosemary writes ‘just at this minute it is snowing fast and we hope to have some tobogganing tomorrow.’
The Duchess also received many letters from her son George, written whilst he was at Summerfields in Oxford. George writes to his mother about the family pets, his trips to the theatre and the books he was reading.
Click on the image 'Duchess Millicent and Letters from George' to learn more about these.
One of George’s letters encloses a letter from his brother Alastair which includes a little ink drawing entitled ‘the yacht in a heavy sea’. Alastair's letter indicates that this was the yacht that the family had stayed on during a holiday. Alastair tells his Mother that he had been playing cricket, remarking ‘all the other new kids are awful little asses’.
Full of amusing anecdotes, these letters provide a lively insight into family life during the early twentieth century. Click on the images on the left to see more.