DLA123-0149 Transcription
[in another hand] 4
13. Dec [1936]
Yr Majesty
Your Majesty's letter[1] followed us here & for the gracious inquiries about my husband’s health may I tender my sincerest warm thanks.[2]
He is making good progress. It is just a fortnight today, that we arrd here at Cap Ferret – We have a charming villa, beside that of the Duke of Connaught’s[3] wh. alas! till now is empty! We lead a quiet life, & my husband is writing his memories, & he has been fortunate in finding a good secretary, because he still [illegible deletion] abides by his Dr’s advice not to write himself.[4] Very soon – [illegible deletion] however, as his strength returns more and more, he will write his own letters, & he waits till then & write to you Mam [illegible deletion] personally
[Page 2]
asks me to say how He was very happy he is to hear that both the large portraits have arrd safely [possibly 3211 and 4220], & that your picture [possibly 3211] was requested for further Ex-tions! he hopes to be able to show it in London next year, He is deeply grieved to hear the bad news about Col. Leresanu,[5] for whom he had a special regard – & What a sad loss to Yr Majesty.
What a surprisingly world we live in! Today ^yesterday we listened in [to?] the Proclomation [sic] of the Duke of York as our new King![6] The last few days have been charged with such an unusual excitement, so strange in its essence, that [illegible words] it is hardly possible to believe the truth. We hail King George & his Queen with devotion & respect, the [prestige?] of the Crown is [illegible]. But looking into the future, we cannot deny feeling sad for Prince Edward, & I am sure the happenings + my husband joins me, in my sincere expression of Devotion
Editorial Note:
Queen Marie of Romania, née Princess Marie of Edinburgh (1875-1938); for biographical notes, see [2961].
HJ
03/03/2020
[1] DLA123-0078, letter from Queen Marie of Romania to de László, 29 November 1936
[2] On 18 August 1936, de László collapsed on a London street from a suspected heart attack; he spent the winter recovering at Villa “Les Brises” in Cap Ferrat, France.
[3] Prince Arthur, 1st Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1850-1942) [4117], son of Queen Victoria. The Duke of Connaught’s villa in Cap Ferrat was Villa “Les Bruyères”. The Duke was apparently looking for a buyer for “Les Bruyères” in the Spring of 1936 (see “Villa les Bruyères for Sale”, Truth, 15 April 1936, p. 5); it went on the market in 1939. De László was due to paint the Duke’s portrait in October 1936, but, due to ill health (see fn 2), sittings for the portrait [4117] were postponed to the following summer. By then, then Duke was not well enough to sit, and the artist could not start the portrait until October 1937. De László died a month later, on 22 November 1937.
[4] De László was under strict orders from his doctor Lord Dawson of Penn [4651] not to exhaust himself by painting more than four days a week.
[5] Lieutenant Colonel Leresanu (1865-1936) posed for the posthumous portrait of King Ferdinand I of Romania [4217], which de László painted during his stay in Bucharest in 1936.
[6] On 11 December 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne. The following day at noon, Edward’s brother, Prince Albert, Duke of York [9123], was proclaimed King. Albert assumed the regnal name “George VI”; Edward was created Duke of Windsor.