Letters to the Future Queen, Kate Middleton's Postman Delivers Mail without an Address

Imagine the future Kate as tender and tortured Queen of her castle. Decorated in pearls and ornate silk, bejeweled tiara atop an elaborate coiffure, taking her morning tea at some holdover gilded age writer’s table. Writing her daily letters shan’t be such a chore when she’s got someone to lick her envelopes, now, shall it?

True, the darling princess-to-be Kate Middleton has forevermore got it made, and as her local postman, Ryan Naylor, can attest, her world-wide popularity is burgeoning. Naylor has been hauling a "steady stream" of mail up the private drive to the home she shares with her family in rural Bucklebury, Berkshire ever since her November 16 engagement announcement to, the one equally adorable, Prince William.

Naylor, the postman, tells, "The post they've had is absolutely incredible, from all over the world. There are lots of well-wishers, sending cards and presents." Although the address remains a tightly kept secret, it is perfectly straightforward. When asked if trying 'Kate Middleton, Bucklebury' would work, "Absolutely right, and some of it's just addressed to Kate Middleton, England, but it still gets here, surprisingly,” he chuckles.

"There was one this morning to 'Mike and Carole Middleton, Parents of Catherine Middleton, Bucklebury, Berkshire," he says as he jumps into his red van and heads out again on his rounds. "I joked with them about it. I said, ‘Look, it still gets through! What a good postman you've got!" One wonders if he received his holiday gratuity.

Here, and only a few weeks ago, on January 9, Kate Middleton arrives for the wedding of the Honourable Sarah Louise Stourton and Harry Aubrey-Fletcher at St. Andrew’s Church in Aldborough, North Yorkshire. Ever-stylish is Kate with her smart sense of fashion; she wears a revolving door of fascinators. In no exception, here she is in a beautiful black structural beret or tilted pillbox with a long and lovely feather quill fascinator with most of the vane barbs removed. In keeping with our lovely theme of antique writing implements here at Art of the Letter, the quill of her hat reminds us of a bygone era when our writing utensils were borne of shaved quills.

Along with the beautiful fascinator, she wore a tailored Libelula velvet dress coat with silver clasp, plum colored shoes, matching clutch, and of course, Diana’s gorgeous rock.

The beautiful painting opening this post is entitled Princess Elizabeth in Prison at St. James' created by John Everett Millais. The poor little Princess Elizabeth (1635-1650), second daughter of King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria, was confined in St. James' Palace by order of Parliament when the English Civil War began in 1642. Elizabeth is represented here in 1850, after half of her life imprisoned, composing her touching letter to Parliament in which she begs for her loved servants to remain with her and to be allowed to join her sister, the Princess of Orange. Her letter proved moving enough for the previous and most cruel policy to be reversed. She was transferred to Carisbrook Castle on the Isle of Wight, when her brother, future Charles II, landed in Scotland with a liberating army. Sadly, Princess Elizabeth died 8 days after her trasfer, being only 15 years old.

Along with other lost gems of the ages, a small explanation of this painting with a lovely poem written to Millais by a young student about Millais' Elizabeth is contained in this book: The Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais: President of the Royal Academy, Volume 2.

Vols. 1 & 2 respectively, as follows:

Self portrait 1881 John Everett Millais (1829-1896)

Millais was a controversial and rebellious 19th century English painter and illustrator, and who does not love a little of the rebel? Known for his opposition to the modern methods of composition as taught in the art academies of the day, he was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Besides a bit of professional controversy over some of his paintings, he became a love magnet to Effie, the wife of his biggest outspoken supporter, social critic John Ruskin. Effie sought an annulment from her 6 year marriage to Ruskin, which turned up a salacious few tidbits about Ruskin himself in marriage annulment court, all feeding a tremendous scandal, a Victorian age "love triangle".

Listed on left is the book titled John Ruskin and Effie Gray: The story of John Ruskin, Effie Gray and John Everett Millais, told for the first time in their unpublished letters. There have been several dramatic features including films, plays, operas and radio programmes retelling the fascinating relationships of Millais, Ruskin and Effie. Further, a study of this this love triangle, of Effie & John Ruskin's unsatisfied marriage along with a study of its traumatic wedding night can be found in the book listed on right titled Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages.

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Drew Barrymore: Advocate for Old-Fashioned Correspondence

Drew Barrymore has a penchant for writing letters, and when it comes to corresponding, she eschews faster forms of conveyances in favor of the handwritten. She considers it more meaningful to pen a note, and insists people write letters to her instead of sending an email or other electronic communication.

In method preparations for her Golden Globe award-winning role in the 2009 HBO movie Grey Gardens, she isolated herself from all modern communicative technologies, and limited herself to letter writing as a way of entrenching herself into her vintage character, Little Edie Beale. Barrymore went into seclusion, “No contact with friends, no cell phones, no Black Berry, no newspapers, no magazines, no computers, no cars, no television. Nothing, for three months,” she said. "But she’d write,” said on-again, off-again boyfriend, Justin Long. Long tells of her creative letter writing, "She'd write beautiful, profound, poetic letters on a typewriter."

As for the subject of the letters, Drew revealed, "They were about my fears of not being able to pull this character off; this icon, and about learning a level of discipline… about facing your fears." Barrymore said the old-fashioned letters, which she wrote on an avocado green IBM Selectric typewriter, helped her work through her jitters about the part. "I had to understand what isolation was really like."

Even after the role ended, Drew explains "I still write letters. I don't want to communicate in a relationship via text and email. I love a letter. You are thoughtful when you write it, and someone can read it, and hold onto it, and go back to it. For me, there's something very dangerous to have everything so instantaneous."

The star of Grey Gardens has wishes for social betterment, where folks become more gracious and mindful of their manners. As in times past, people were polite and ceremonial in their conduct, and acted out of consideration. She longs for a resurgence of this courtesy and gallantry, “There's a part of me that misses the grace and formalities of the past," says Drew. "Like, when gentlemen wore hats and opened doors.” Although, she is not all old-school airs and elegance. “I love that now, we're not trying to pretend so much that everything is prim and proper,” laughs Drew. “I'd like to find a balance."


Both gorgeous photographs are of Drew Barrymore looking like an old-Hollywood, living vintage doll in an Alberta Ferretti gown, and a true vintage headpiece as she appeared at the Ziegfeld Theater, New York City premiere of Grey Gardens.

The exceedingly interesting characters of "Big Edie" and "Little Edie" are true-to-life socialites from an era past. Edith "Big Edie" Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale were the aunt and first cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. The two women lived together at Grey Gardens, a decrepit mansion at 3 West End Road, in the wealthy neighborhood of East Hampton, New York for decades with limited funds, resulting in squalor and almost total isolation. The home became the center of quite a scandal when it was revealed in 1973 that the reclusive aunt and cousin to Jackie O. were living in a state of poverty and filth.

Both the original documentary, and the modern HBO movie, are critically acclaimed, award winning, and gleamingly reviewed by viewers.

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Love Letters To Elizabeth Taylor

Hollywood royal, Elizabeth Taylor, has offered a generous and intimate glimpse into her bedside stand by revealing her treasured, personal, and never-before-seen love letters from star crossed lover, Richard Burton. The scandalous relationship between these two charismatic and legendary stars was infamously passionate and equally as tumultuous. It turns out, Richard's love letters to Elizabeth parallelled those lines of passion and turbulence with his writings of his profound desire for her and a remarkable darkness revealing his extreme vulnerability in the face of existing without her. In this momentous collection of magical love letters from Richard Burton, he reveals himself to be a charming, talented, lusty letter writer, and creatively exposes his mischievous spirit in effortless mastery.

Richard found that Elizabeth's allure was impossible to escape. He mused, even until his end, in the possibility of rekindling their relationship. To Richard, Elizabeth was a painful temptation, irresistable and magnificently attractive. He was fascinated by her - delighted by her - dashed by her.

This spell-binding couple created fan pandemonium in their outings, which in turn gave rise to the paparazzi phenomenon. The unprecedented access to Richard's personal love letters and diary writings came in time to promote and support this juicy and scathing biography of the two:

Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century

In an short excerpt from a Kathleen Hughes review of the book Furious Love:

It's a mesmerizing tale - sad, sometimes ugly -

as the two stars engaged in vicious fights,

nursed their jealousies and insecurities,

and descended into alcoholism,

while outwardly living a life of glamour and sophistication.




The beautiful illustration leading this post is from the original motion picture soundtrack of the movie The Sandpiper, starring both Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton while they were in their honeymoon phase. The few Amazon reviews for this soundtrack are of astounding compliment, worthy of a read themselves, and the music has been described as haunting, intoxicating, seductive, and romantic.

We are privileged to to behold these private letters from

a legendary and powerful love affair.

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