Letter written by Princess Diana recalls how ‘thrilled’ young Princes Harry and William were about Christmas

Letter is being sold at auction for an estimated £3,000

(Rex Features)

A letter written by the late Princess Diana recollected how excited the young Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge were for the festive period.

The letter, which is being sold at auction, is addressed 5 December 1990 and was addressed to a woman named Ivy Woodward.

The former Princess of Wales met Ms Woodward in September 1990 while visiting Prince Charles in hospital, after the heir apparent suffered a broken arm in a polo accident.

Ms Woodward, whose son lay in a coma following a motorbike accident, was comforted by Princess Diana. Her son, Dean, was able to return home by December that year.

“Dearest Ivy, I have been thinking of you a great deal as we all head towards Christmas and wondering how life was treating you,” Princess Diana wrote in the letter.

Letter sent from late Princess Diana to Ivy Woodward (Lawrences Auctioneers)

The royal stated that “the boys”, in reference to Prince Harry and Prince William, who would have been six and eight at the time respectively, were “thrilled at the prospect of Christmas on the horizon”.

Princess Diana added that her sons had “searched high and low for any parcels that might be coming their way”.

The late Princess of Wales, who would have been 29 at the time she wrote the letter, said that she and Ms Woodward shared a “unique bond” that she “treasured”.

The letter, which was written on Kensington Palace headed notepaper, is being sold for an estimated £2,000 to £3,000 at Lawrences Auctioneers in Bletchingley, Surrey.

”In her letter to Ivy Woodward it is clear Diana wrote from the heart, like one mother to another,” said Sarah Ward, of Lawrences Auctioneers.

“The common touch that she had with normal people is here to see.”

The correspondence is being sold alongside a second letter penned by Princess Diana, a thank you note written for her and Princes Charles’ bodyguard, Sergeant Ronald Lewis, who accompanied them on a trip to Lagos, Nigeria in March 1990.

“What with the extreme heat and often difficult conditions moving around was a nightmare for you and your luggage! Thank you from the boss’s wife,” states the letter, which is also estimated to sell for £2,000 to £3,000.

Both letters are being sold by the same private collector on 3 December.