Royal Mail
By Bénédicte KERG on 28 November 2016, 21:30 - Permalink
Royal Mail: how to write to the Royal Family
The Queen receives thousands of items of correspondence each year, many from her people in the UK and Commonwealth, but also from across the world. Having just become the longest reigning Monarch in British History, many of you will want to write to Her Majesty to congratulate her, but what things must you do? And what should you avoid? Here’s your guide how to write to the Royal Family.
How should I write my letter?
Firstly you should decide your topic: is it a congratulatory message for an anniversary or birthday? Did you have a question? Or did you just want to show your support for a member of the Royal Family’s work? From this, find three main points you want to cover – this will help with structure and save you from rambling.
If you wish to keep to the correct forms and traditions in your letter, follow these tips. If you do not, that is also perfectly acceptable, and your letter will still be read – this is merely the formal and traditional way of writing to a Royal.
LAYOUT:
Your address should be in the top right hand corner, followed by the date beneath this, aligned on the right. You may include the address you are sending your letter to on the left, parallel with your own, though this is optional.
The first sentence of your letter should always be indented, roughly to where the comma on the introduction is.
Sign your letter and include both your first and last name at the bottom, as well as your title: Mr, Mrs, Dr. etc. Children should include their age.
LANGUAGE:
When writing to The Queen, tradition dictates you should open with ‘Madam’, and close the letter with ‘I have the honour to be, Madam, Your Majesty’s humble and obedient servant’.
For male members of the family, open with ‘Sir’, though you may also use ‘Your Royal Highness’ where appropriate for both men and women.
It is generally good practice to state what you wish to talk about in your letter early on, the first paragraph is preferable, but using ‘I am writing to…’ is considered poor form.
In the body of the letter, when you wish to use the pronoun ‘you’, if writing to The Queen, you should instead write ‘Your Majesty’, and adjust it appropriately for the possessive pronoun: e.g. ‘your work’ becomes ‘Your Majesty’s work’. For any other Royal, it is ‘Your Royal Highness’ work’ etc. Debrett’s recommends you write to the Private Secretary and therefore refer to the Royal as ‘Her Majesty’ or ‘His/Her Royal Highness’ – it is entirely up to you.
N.B. this is not compulsory, just the very traditional way to write, and can sound old fashioned and stilted nowadays; it was once on the British Monarchy website, but has since removed this from their site, likely for this reason.
Try and keep your letter brief, no more than a page if possible.
As the other members of the Royal Family are not the reigning Monarch, there is no need to end it with the ‘obedient servant’ line, as above. You can simply round off with ‘Yours faithfully’, though ‘Yours sincerely’ is also acceptable.
Where should I send my letter?
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Her Majesty The Queen
Buckingham Palace
London
SW1A 1AA
The Duke of Edinburgh, The Duke of York, The Princess Royal and Princess Alexandra all have their offices at Buckingham Palace, so just swap the name to write to them – and remember everyone else is styled as His/Her Royal Highness! Feel free to abbreviate these styles to HM, HRH or TRH.
More rare, letters to Princess Beatrice or Princess Eugenie should also be sent to Buckingham Palace.
-
Their Royal Hignesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall
Clarence House
London
SW1A 1BA -
Their Royal Hignesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
Kensingston Palace
London
W8 4PU -
His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales
Kensington Palace
London
W8 4PU
OR….
Clarence House
London
SW1A 1BA
‘Prince Harry’ is also acceptable when writing to Harry.
While Kensington Palace is the official London residence of William, Catherine, and Harry, it is still not clear to us if their offices are located there, since the Clarence House address is still listed on the Royal Family’s official site. Fear not, your letter will be passed on to the correct office if it ends up at the wrong destination!
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Their Royal Highnesses The Earl and Countess of Wessex
Bagshot Park
Bagshot
Surrey GU19 5PL -
Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester
Kensington Palace
London W8 4PU -
His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent
St. James’s Palace
London SW1A 1BQ -
Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent
Wren House
Palace Green
London W8 4PY