Letter written by ‘DRUNK’ Queen Victoria using ‘early text speak’ expected to fetch £1,500
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Letter written by ‘DRUNK’ Queen Victoria using ‘early form of text speaking’ expected to fetch £1,500 at auction
- Queen Victoria wrote a ‘drunk’ letter asking about the ‘height of a donkey’
- Correspondence will raise up to £1,500 at auction as part of a trove
- The letters also indicate that she may have used ‘an early form of text speech’
- She seemed to shorten words and sentences, including by referring to herself as ‘q’
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A letter Queen Victoria wrote while perhaps drunk, demanding to know the “height of a donkey,” could fetch up to £1,500 at auction.
The note, written by the monarch to a friend, was discovered as part of a royal treasury in the home of a retired antiques dealer on the Isle of Wight.
Experts think she may have been tipsy at the time due to the large size of the writing.
There is also evidence in the letter that Queen Victoria adopted an ‘early form of text-talking’ in her correspondence by shorten her own name to ‘q’, and use ‘wh’ for ‘which’.
A letter Queen Victoria wrote while she may have been drunk, demanding that the ‘height of a donkey’ could fetch up to £1,500 at auction
A rich body of royal finds related to the monarch – all discovered in a house on the Isle of Wight – includes a handwritten letter from her showing that she likes to shorten words
Works on paper expert Jim Spencer with the stump work bible found in the treasure trove of ancient artifacts
Queen Victoria was known to love beer, but her ‘favorite drink’, according to Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, was ‘allegedly Scotch whiskey mixed with Claret’
The letter will go under the hammer on Friday 7 October at Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall, Derby, as part of a bundle containing other royal correspondence, autographs and menus.
The target price is between € 1,000 and € 1,500.
Jim Spencer, paper specialist at Hansons, said: ‘A forensic graphologist helped me with the letter because it was almost impossible to decipher any of it.
Letters written in her final years are notoriously challenging to read.
“The graphologist has confirmed it’s Queen Victoria’s and has copied most of it. They suggested she might have been a little drunk when she wrote it because of the way the words flow out and the fact that they were so big — about three words per line.”
A rich body of royal finds related to the monarch – all discovered in a house on the Isle of Wight – includes a handwritten letter from her showing that she likes to shorten words
In addition to the royal correspondence, the finds include a royal menu of chicken curry
Experts think she may have been tipsy at the time because of the large size of the writing system
One sentence reads: ‘The q. want to know the height of the gypsies [?] male donkey.’
Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, said: ‘Queen Victoria is known to enjoy drinks, especially beer. Her absolute favorite drink, however, would be Scotch whiskey mixed with Claret.’
The items — including a bulky 51-inch nightgown over the girth and bloomers of Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter — were found in the former home of Marilyn Rose, 90, who opened her first antique shop in the mid-1970s in Poon on the Isle of Wight. She started running an outlet in Newport.
Her son, Tim Rose, 64, a retired Warwickshire forester, said: ‘My mother is moving and we are in the process of clearing the historic property. The royal correspondence, bloomers and nightgown were among several fascinating finds, some of which are new to us.
‘There is still a royal connection as the house dates back to the 18th century and was once home to Sir William Carter Hoffmeister, Queen Victoria’s personal physician on the Isle of Wight.’
Queen Victoria’s nightgown (pictured) was also found in the loot and will be sold
A few bloomers from her daughter Beatrice were also found in the search
Hansons’ period clothing consultant Notty Hornblower holds up Princess Beatrice’s bloomers