Books and Manuscripts

Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom
Autograph Letter
Villa Hohenlohe, Baden Baden, (Germany), April 5, 1880. One sheet folded to make four pages, 7 x 4 1/2 in. (178 x 114 mm). Two-page autograph letter on Villa Hohenlohe mourning stationery, written in the third person by Queen Victoria to General Alexander Nelson Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, 4th Duke of Bronte (1814-1904): "The Queen hopes Lord Bridport will accept this additional trifling souvenir of Baden. She also sends a Photograph of her dear gd. Children. It is Victoria's birthday today. The Queen finds she has none of the Photographs by her; but she will give him one as soon as she comes back.--" Creasing from contemporary folds.

Queen Victoria writes to Lord Bridport, sending him a souvenir from Villa Hohenlohe, Baden Baden, in Germany. Queen Victoria stayed in the Villa from March 26 to April 15, 1880. The Villa Hohenlohe, formally the Villa Delmar, was left to Victoria by her half-sister, Princess Feodore of Leiningen, on her death in 1872. Princess Victoria (1863-1950) was eldest daughter of the Queen's third child, Princess Alice (1843-78) and Grand Duke Louis IV (1837-92), and who tragically died two years prior at age of 35 from a sudden illness. Compounded with the loss of her husband, Prince Albert, in 1861, the Queen remained in mourning for the rest of her life.