| Description | These two letters are enclosed within a small envelope addressed to Elizabeth's mother at home in Peckham Rye, London. The inside of the envelope reads 'Dearest Papa! Please read my letter first, I've a particular reason!'
In the first letter, dated 'Sunday 23rd 1872', Elizabeth thanks her parents for the letters and money which they had sent to her. It is significant to note that Elizabeth made an error in dating her letter, as the postmark on the envelope is stamped 1873, and the events which she refers to in the letter are also dated as 1873.
Much of Elizabeth's letter concerns news about the recent marriage of the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. Elizabeth writes that whilst the girls were preparing their lessons Miss Meyer had 'dashed wildly' into their room 'waving a newspaper & screaming'. The newspaper reported that the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen had married an actress, Ellen Franz, on 18th May 1873, news which had shocked the staff and girls at the school. Elizabeth writes that the Duke had gone from his first marriage to the niece of Emperor Willhelm who was related to Queen Victoria 'and ended up with an actress!' She remarks that there had been a great commotion about the affair in the town of Saxe-Meiningen, suggesting that the Duke and his new wife had 'not dared to show their faces in Meiningen since it was known.'
The second letter enclosed is in the form of an undated postscript, written by Elizabeth to tell her parents about an 'adventure' she had been on with her friends Lizzie Dunlop and Edith Graham which had caused Miss Meyer to go 'literally mad!!!'. |