‘…I saw the Queen being handed the wrong cakes…’ DU MAURIER DAPHNE: (1907-1989) British Author. T.L.S., Daphne, four pages, 8vo, Menabilly, Par, Cornwall, 16th August 1962, to 'My dear' (Foy Quiller-Couch). Du Maurier proclaims 'What a typical arrival! Be sure to see all fires are extinguished when you go to bed, and that the doors and windows are locked against burglars' and adds 'I have written my name under yours in Castle Dor, and have returned the book'. She continues to recount a visit from Queen Elizabeth II, 'Well, the Queen..I was so exhausted…from doing 26 vases of flowers the day before that I had lost my nerves when the moment came. I must say, it was rather splendid to see the big Rolls drive slowly up to the front door bearing the Royal Standard, and the Queen, a radiant figure in white, seated within. That was really the best of it. The actual hour passed very quickly really, but nobody hardly touched the enormous spread of tea I had prepared, and out of my eye I saw the Queen being handed the wrong cakes by Angela, and she even got a non-matching plate at one moment instead of the Rockingham! The nice Prescotts helped us, she chatting informally away to Prince P[hilip] about schools, and Colonel Prescott reviving old Grenadier memories with the Queen. The entourage seemed endless (actually we were 14) and disposed themselves about the Long Room, and old Sir Edward Bolitho spilt his tea, and was the only one to munch, and enjoy, a split with cream! The house had been scrubbed, and better scrubbed (I found Mr. Burt, 81 a few days before, washing down the Long Room mantle piece with Jeyes fluid!!) and so much tidied away that none of us have been able to find a thing since. No, I wore neither hat nor gloves, thank goodness. I wrote and asked a lady-in-waiting I knew, and she said "Not at an informal tea in one's own house." My relief was enormous. I haven't a hat to my name, tho' I could have borrowed gloves, and Flave had actually sent down a handsome white bag from Harrods, which I suggest we all borrow in time of need. Anyway, it's a good thing done, and I think the G'sman [Guardsman, her husband Frederick Browning] was very pleased at the honour shown….' Du Maurier also writes of children, 'I still wish they were better at amusing themselves and had more imagination. Paul, who is apt to be scared at bedtime, looked at me as if I were mad when I told him that Kits also used to be rather nervous, but was all right when he had a group of small Indians called Black Wolf and Laughing Thunder on his bedside table to guard him, along with a small soldier on one knee called Terry. "If you like", I said, "I will see if there are any Indians left in the playroom drawer." "But they aren't real", answered Paul, and I saw it was no good. My word, those toy Indians were as real to me as they were to Kits - the "Guarders" we always called them. It is a pity that children seem so factual these days, and I don't see why it should be anything to do with men whirling round in space.' and concludes by briefly referring to her own work, 'I have finished my Glass-Blowing book, and the publishers in England and U.S. very pleased with it. I was afraid they'd find it dull'. A small tape stain to the upper corner of the first and final pages, only very slightly affecting one word of text and not the signature, VG
Foy Quiller-Couch - daughter of British writer Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863-1944), and a life-long friend of Du Maurier. Indeed, Du Maurier was accompanied by Foy Quiller-Couch when she became inspired with the storyline for her novel Jamaica Inn. In 1930, apparently around the time of the present letter, the two ladies were staying at Jamaica Inn and went riding on Bodmin Moor. They became lost in bad weather conditions and apparently sheltered for some time in a derelict cottage on the moor but were eventually led back to Jamaica Inn by their horses.
Frederick Browning (1896-1965) British Lieutenant-General of World War II, deputy commander of the First Allied Airborne Army in Operation Market Garden, 1944. Husband of Du Maurier from 1932. Comptroller and Treasurer to Princess Elizabeth from 1948-52 and later Treasurer in the Office of the Duke of Edinburgh.
