EDWARD VIII: (1894-1972) King of the United Kingdom January - December 1936. Later Duke of Windsor. A long A.L.S., with his initial D, (and further signed David and three more times with his initial D at various stages throughout the letter), twenty pages, 4to, Panama (and at sea travelling to San Diego), 1st - 6th April 1920, to his mistress Freda Dudley Ward ('Fredie darling darling beloved one'), on the printed stationery of H.M.S. Renown. The Prince writes on a daily basis to his correspondent whilst at sea, informing her of various events and duties, referring to mutual acquaintances, family members and his staff, and at many points during the letter also romantically expressing his feelings towards Dudley Ward, in part, 'I've only just got back from the official dinner & dance tho. I'm dead beat as its been real hot here all the time & I've been jazzing around some. Sorry for breaking into real Yank sweetie but its being in the canal zone & amongst Yanks ashore which is always bad for my accent...We bought some Panama hats in the filthy little town before motoring out to Naos Island to see the Yank big gun defences which are tunnelled in the rock no doubt to keep the Japs out of the canal some day!!...There are 20,000 British coloured people working on the canal & they gave me a good welcome; they are mostly from Jamaica & smell too revoltingly for words poor brutes!! It was all a proper old pantomime & we all laughed a lot as the Panamanians are very queer people all dagoes of course tho very pompous & dirty. Panama is of course the capital of the republic tho the ship was really tied up...in the Yank canal zone...The dinner was followed by a bloody awful dance about 200 Panamanians beside the motly crowd of Yanks of the night before so it was a terrible squash & dancing almost impossible & such dancers!! My "store girl" was again the only mover tho. I was too tired for more than one with her particularly when she told me I could take her home if I wanted to altho. she was already booked up with a man for that pleasure. I think the man who kept her!!!! Christ she was awful...It all revolted me angel & its a relief to be at sea again, now in the Pacific on our way north to San Diego...And I'm feeling more Fredie sick than ever before to-night beloved & I'm altogether such a sad lonely depressed little David without his vewy vewy own blessed little sweetheart & how I'm dreading the rest of this bloody trip...Dickie [Mountbatten has been seedy the last 3 days & was on the sick list yesterday (tummy trouble!!) tho he's all right again to-day & we've been yarning for hours in my cabin; such a nice boy & he's written to you this evening tho. he hasn't shown me the letter yet tho I'm going to make him & also apologise for bothering you about his medals...(1st April)...I've had a long yarn with old Joey this evening who is feeling almost as "Sarah sick" as I am "Fredie sick" angel tho not quite or I should say not nearly so!! He's such a dear when you get to know him tho. as you know it takes some time. As for Claud he drifts further & further away from me as a friend & seems more aloof each day & I've become to look on him as merely of use officially tho. he isn't capable of anything else & wld. be out of place & look silly if he even tried to be anything but "the equerry on duty"!!...(2nd April)...'I've "censored" Dickie's letter as you'll see by the alterations angel tho. of course its only a rag letter on his part & he put in those items I made him alter just to annoy me; so I know you'll believe the amendments darling tho. of course he's such a baby & can't possibly understand my view point particularly when he says I take life too seriously!! Of course he can't make me out at all when we go ashore & I take no interest in the bits he picks up for me to dance with except as regards their dancing!! He is naturally out to kiss any woman that attracts him sufficiently if he gets the chance & why not at his age & heart free?! But how glad I am that I'm not heart free beloved one & that on the contrary with my heart is locked up inside YOU which it is so so securely & it seems as if a new lock was fixed on to your safe for my heart each day sweetie. That's a marvellous thought that keeps me going so far away from you tho there's a far more marvellous glorious thought & I'm conceited enough to say knowledge that I've got your precious sacred blessed little heart locked up in me!! Am I right Fredie darling darling beloved one? please say YES in answer to this tho. perhaps you'll be angwy wiv me for asking you to!!...I love you love you altho. you know I do so so desperately & madly in my own way darling & believe me no one could ever ever love you more in any other way!! All all ME & all & everything that's in me is yours yours Fredie sweetheart nothing else or anyone else exists for me except YOU tho I'm still trying to carry on with this thankless & rotten job of P. of W. which is the only reason why I've left you now!!...(3rd April)...'I thought of you so much & felt quite sloppy at Holy Communion this morning tho. it was a sordid little service on a very hot mess deck taken by our naval parson quite a good fellow in his way tho. high church which I abhorr & how he sweated!!...I never can pray in public...when I do its usually in bed & only for YOU & our happiness!!...I take your darling little pillow up with me sweetheart but always take the precaution to pin it to me for fear lest it shld be blown overboard when I roll about which wld. be the end of everything!! You just can't think what that sweet divine sacred little pillow means to me when I know how many thousands of times your blessed beloved little head has lain on it!! Oh! its just about my most sacred possession & it not only makes me happy every night but makes me feel so so proud too angel to think that you've given it to me & then those stains!! I only hope the one I gave you in return isn't too terribly uncomfy darling or the covers too coarse a linen...(4th April, Easter Sunday)...'Dickie & I have been playing the gramophone & making weird noises on some flutes he's got...I visited a turret this morning and have been dictating letters to my father & Ld. Beatty to-day asking that I get "Renown" for my next bloody trip (to India, Malay Straits, China, Japan & home via Canada) instead of "Malaya" which any amount of alterations & expense couldn't ever make one tenth as comfy or as suitable as this ship!!...(5th April; incorrectly dated March by the Prince)...'Our last day at sea before San Diego sweetheart...the rest of my time has been spent finishing off my official dispatches or letters to H.M. & Beatty & I'm so hopeless at that sort of thing...what other letters except yours can possibly have the least interest for me?...Joey has also written to you by this mail besides Dickie so that you won't exactly lack news from H.M.S. "Renown". I'm also writing to old Bertie [his brother, later to become King George VI I hope he goes to see you sometimes angel as I love to think that you & he are friends & that you see something of each other when I am away tho. we both think exactly the same about him!! Still I'm very fond of him & he's a good friend to us which means a lot in our life doesn't it Fredie darling?...I've at last finished that famous book "Susan Lennox"...it's too devastatingly sordid for words & you just must'nt even so much as open a page of it as I know you wld. hate it!! It's a book for men only & I really mean that angel not in any way from the prude's point of view as I don't know how to be a prude!! But its an interesting and instructive book for men tho. merely 2 vols. of unadulterated filth for a woman!!...I've had an invitation from a Los Angeles Film Co to fly over the 20 miles to see a film made; of course I've had to refuse as I've been made to cut out flying...the Admiral made me produce all my new suits of plain clothes for inspection as that is always one of the standing jokes of the staff...I was furious sweetheart when he objected to my new "+ 4" suit which you like...How I wish...I could tell you & show you properly how madly madly & desperately I love you love you & worship you & adore you Fredie darling darling of my heart my love my goddess my everything!!...It's a d-d hard life isn't it Fredie darling but I know there's happiness in store for us together later on!! Any amount of note paper could never contain all the paper baisers your v. v. own devoted adoring little David wants to send you Fredie mine mine. Au revoir & bless you bless you for ever & God keep you for me, D'. Accompanied by the original envelope hand addressed by the Prince in ink and bearing a black wax seal featuring an impression of a beetle to the verso. A letter of exceptional content. VG

Freda Dudley Ward (1894-1983) Marquesa de Casa Maury. English Socialite, the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales from 1918-23. Ward remained a close confidante of Edward's until 1934 when his relationship with Wallis Simpson began.

Louis Mountbatten (1900-1979) British Admiral of the Fleet during World War II. A great grandson of Queen Victoria and Uncle to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Mountbatten was nicknamed Dickie by his family and friends. Mountbatten and the Prince of Wales forged a close friendship, as illustrated in the present letter, when the newly promoted Lieutenant accompanied Edward on his Royal tour in 1920-21.