A newly discovered letter from Princess Diana reveals more about her time at Buckingham Palace, including her feelings of being “terribly lonely.”
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The letter, recently obtained by PEOPLE, was sent by Diana to Buckingham Palace footman Mark Simpson. It was dated July 31, 1981, just two days after her wedding to King Charles III, who was then the Prince of Wales.
“I just wanted to thank you for all your kindness + patience you’ve showed towards me since I moved into B.P.,” her letter reads. “My stay was made so much easier by your company as it was so terribly lonely + we had so many laughs for that I can’t thank you enough.”
Diana added, “Do hope you were able to enjoy Wednesday + that you liked my dress? I’m off to Britainia tomorrow, what with all those men around. I will have to keep a watchful eye on Evelyn!”
Diana appeared to be referencing Evelyn Dagley, her trusted aide and personal dresser.
Princess Diana’s Letter is One of 300 Items Soon Up For Auction
The letter is one of 300 items up for auction at Julien’s Auctions. The collection, Princess Diana’s Style & A Royal Collection, is one of the largest auctions ever of items that once belonged to the late Princess of Wales.
“It’s like a couple of days after she got married,” Martin Nolan, co-founder and executive director of Julien’s Auction, explained to PEOPLE about the letter. “She’d been living in Buckingham Palace as she was transitioning from being a normal person to being a royal and the future queen.”
“So she had to learn from the Queen Mother and the Queen about curtsying and all that. But she had fun with Mark Simpson, the footman. And he was about the same age, a little bit older than her,” Nolan added. “And she talks here, it speaks of how she was lonely when she was in the palace.”
The letter hints at early signs of tension between Diana, who was 20 years old at the time of her wedding, and her 32-year-old husband Charles. The couple later had two sons, William in 1982 and Harry in 1984, before separating in 1992.