'Intimate' Princess Diana letters sell for £51,850

The auctioneers say the handwritten letters reveal how caring the princess was

Handwritten letters and cards from Princess Diana to her family’s former housekeeper have been sold at auction for a total of £51,850.

The letters were sent to Violet Collison, the housekeeper at Park House on the Sandringham Estate, where the princess spent her childhood years.

Referred to as Collie by the late princess, the housekeeper remained close to Diana and sent gifts to her and the princes, William and Harry, for which Diana responded with thank you letters and Christmas cards.

The items went under the hammer at Sworders auction house in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex.

One of the letters, written on Buckingham Palace notepaper, was sent just three weeks before Diana’s wedding to Prince Charles.

"Everyone frantically busy here doing last-minute decorations," the then Lady Diana Spencer observed, adding: "The bride-to-be has remained quite calm!"

Diana Spencer, pictured at the age of three, spent her childhood years at Park House on the Sandringham Estate, which her family leased from Queen Elizabeth II

In another letter from September 1984, Diana thanks her former housekeeper for a gift to Prince Harry.

She wrote: "William adores his little brother and spends the entire time pouring an endless supply of hugs and kisses over Harry".

Luke Macdonald, director at Sworders auctioneers, said the letters were "so intimate".

"They’re things that otherwise we probably would not be aware of outside the small circles of the Royal family," he added.

"The fact that she was wanting to say a special thank you - for albeit small presents - really says how kind and generous and caring Diana was."

The letters were written on headed notepaper from both Kensington and Buckingham Palaces

The auction house said there had been interest from across the world, especially the United States.