Royal Christmas cards sell for thousands of pounds

Christmas cards and thank you notes sent by Queen Elizabeth II and Diana, Princess of Wales were among a collection of royal memorabilia which has sold for more than £12,000 at auction.

The items were all sent by members of the Royal Family to Alan Maxwell, a photographic adviser from Harrogate who worked at Wallace Heaton Ltd, the official photographic suppliers to the Royal Family.

Mr Maxwell supplied and framed prints and helped the royals choose which images to use on their Christmas cards.

The lots included informal pictures of the late Queen Elizabeth with her dogs, and a note which read: "Please check the print with the negatives to find out which is missing - eaten by the puppies - ER."

Other items in the auction lots, all of which were sent in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, included new year cards and memos from the Queen Mother, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and the Duke and Duchess of Kent.

They were sold at Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall, near Derby, on Thursday.

The overall pre-sale top estimate for the collection was nearly £8,000, but it eventually achieved a total of £12,855, with every lot having sold, a spokesperson for the auctioneers said.

Auction house owner Charles Hanson said: "Buyers from the UK, the USA and Europe competed for these wonderful finds.

"Mr Maxwell assisted the royal family for decades. He was a man of absolute discretion. As well as managing general photo requests, he printed and framed Christmas cards.

"In a digital age, it's easy to forget people had to send off films to be developed. The Royal Family, among the most photograped people in the world, relied on Mr Maxwell for their photographic needs - and he was a perfectionist."

According to Hansons, Mr Maxwell died 15 years ago and the collection found its way to the seller who approached the auctioneers in the summer and said she had some Royal memorabilia in a box at the bottom of her wardrobe.

Justin Matthews, from Hansons, said: "We arranged for her to bring it to Hansons' Penshurst office a few days later and I was amazed."

Among other items sold as part of the collection were a signed Christmas card from the then Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales from 1984, plus loose images and negatives, which sold for £1,000.

A 1983 Charles and Diana Christmas card and a personal thank you note to Mr Maxwell from Diana was also sold from the collection.

It read: "Dear Mr Maxwell, a very special thank you for coming to our rescue at such short notice!

"I did appreciate enormously the speed in which the photographs arrived here & am only sorry for the trouble we must have caused! Yours most sincerely, Diana."

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