Di's heartfelt letters to royal servant to go under the hammer

London, June 11 : Deeply personal and touching letters that Princess Diana wrote to one of the Royal Family's most trusted servants are set to be auctioned.

The auction of William Tallon's possessions is expected to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds.

In one of the most warm letters, written just seven days after the birth of her first son, Prince William, Diana thanks Tallon, commonly known as 'Backstairs Billy', for all his "lovely presents" and describes her emotions over the first flush of parenthood.

"We are not sure at the moment what has hit us, except a very strong pair of lungs! Both parents are making little sense, we just seem to spend most of our time gazing at this tiny person!" she writes.

She later adds: "William, you always manage to remember the things that mean so much to me."

The letter is one of eight between the Princess and Mr Tallon which form part of a collection of 694 items expected to fetch more than 200,000 pounds when sold off by auctioneers Reeman Dansie of Colchester, Essex, next month.

The letters reveal the Princess's thoughts just before her wedding, on becoming pregnant with Prince William and of the chaos of the first few days after his birth.

Tallon worked in the Royal household from 1951 to 2002, including 25 years as Steward and Page of the Backstairs. He never sought to profit from his 51 years' service to the family and took his secrets to the grave when he died last November at the age of 72.

In his will, Tallon had stated that that the items would be sold after his death and the money passed to the beneficiaries of his estate.

It is the letters between Tallon and the Princess, which are the most noteworthy.

In a letter dated 1 July 1981 - just a few weeks before her marriage to the Prince of Wales, the-then Lady Diana Spencer wrote: "I have been thoroughly spoilt...It is well and truly four weeks to go now and I think everyone will be exhausted come the 30th."

Of her first pregnancy she wrote: "It goes without saying how delighted we are at the prospect of the PoW [Princess of Wales] expanding in more ways than one! It should make Ascot week exciting."

Auctioneer James Grinter said the letters themselves should fetch between 500 pounds and 1,500 pounds.

But he added: "They are very difficult things to value because they are so personal."

ANI