| Description | This material consists of correspondence from Queen Elisabeth, wife of Albert I of Belgium, and from their children, Leopold and Marie Jose. Letters are mainly addressed to Cynthia, but one letter from Queen Elisabeth is also addressed to Irene Curzon. The Belgian king and queen were friends of Lord George Curzon, and Elisabeth and her children stayed at his home at Hackwood for the majority of the First World War. The correspondence is brief, and largely consists of letters of thanks or correspondence of congratulations or condolence on events in the lives of Cynthia and the Belgian royal family.
/1-/5 are letters from Prince Leopold, dating between 1915 and 1927.
/1 gives details of his activities while on holiday
/2 is written from Eton where he was at school in 1918.
/3 is a letter of condolence on the death of Cynthia's father, and mentions the kindness that Lord Curzon showed to the family during the war.
/4 is dated 1926 and announces Leopold's engagement to Princess Astrid of Sweden and /5, dated 1927 thanks Cynthia for her good wishes on the birth of his daughter.
/6-/12 are letters from Queen Elisabeth, dating between 1915 and 1931.
/7 and /8 are cards sent with Christmas presents for Cynthia and her sisters Irene and Baba.
/9 is a letter of congratulations on Cynthia's marriage to Oswald Mosley in 1920, expressing Elisabeth's pleasure that she is to attend Cynthia's wedding.
/10 is dated 1921 and was sent with photographs recently taken at Cynthia's house when Elisabeth visited her godchild, Cynthia's daughter Vivien.
/11 thanks Cynthia and Vivien for a gift of flowers, and mentions meeting them in Paris in 1927.
/12 is a picture postcard of the Swiss Alps, containing New Years wishes for 1931
/13-/15 are letters from Princess Marie-Jose, dating between 1915 and 1919.
/13 is a picture postcard of La Panne in Belgium, dated July 1915. /14 and /15 are brief letters of thanks |