Over 50,000 letters and messages of condolence have been sent to Buckingham Palace since Queen Elizabeth II’s death on 8 September, the palace revealed.
In a new photograph released by the palace, the Correspondence Team is shown sorting through letters sent to King Charles III, Queen Camilla and other members of the Royal Family.
The Palace further revealed that the day after Queen Elizabeth II’s State Funeral, 20 September, 6,500 letters were sent to Buckingham Palace.
In a normal week, according to Buckingham Palace, they would receive upwards of 1,000 letters from the public to members of the Royal Family, including everything from questions and concerns to messages of good wishes.
Buckingham Palace announced that the Correspondence Team, a small team within the palace, will be carefully reading and responding to the messages that have been sent, and will process all items that have been sent to the King and Queen and other members of the Royal Family.
All letters will be sent with King Charles’s cypher on the envelope. Buckingham Palace revealed the first batch of envelopes printed with the King’s cypher earlier in the week in a photograph from the Court Post Room at Buckingham Palace.
King Charles’s cypher is a stylised ‘C’ and ‘R’ for Rex (the Latin word for king) with three numerals underneath a Tudor Crown. The College of Arms presented 10 versions of a cypher to King Charles before he chose the ultimate design.
On the Royal Family website, details are provided on how to contact the Royal Family, but it is noted that some letters are not responded to, including political or personal disputes; and unsolicited gifts cannot be accepted. Formerly, the public could write to King Charles and Queen Camilla at Clarence House—which also accepted mail on behalf of the Prince and Princess of Wales—but correspondence will be handled through Buckingham Palace.
