Lilibet's letters to Sonia… the only friend she chose herself

2022-09-17

Lilibet’s letters to Sonia… the only friend she chose herself: Written in her own hand, the charming correspondence offers a unique peek into the world of the young future Queen

Friendship started when Princess Elizabeth ran up to Sonia Graham-Hodgson and asked if she wanted to play
The pair shared dancing and skating lessons, dined at each other’s homes and attended Girl Guides together
And when Princess Elizabeth stayed at royal residences around the country, she wrote letters to her friend
Young princess wrote about her toy pony ‘Ben’, making snow igloos, and holding a funeral for a dead robin

Neatly handwritten, with the occasional spelling mistake or smudge of ink, the letters from a young Princess Elizabeth offer an endearing insight into the carefree early life of a girl who never expected to become Queen.

The now-historic documents were written in the 1930s to the only friend the future Monarch ever chose for herself as a child, Sonia Graham-Hodgson, and – along with some charming and candid photographs – are now treasured family mementos.

The remarkable friendship began with the girls playing hopscotch and hide-and-seek in the private park near their Central London homes, and would endure for decades. Whenever she stayed at royal residences around the country, young Princess Elizabeth, known as ‘Lilibet’, kept up a lively correspondence with her dear friend, with letters displaying her early obsession with horses, even of the toy variety.

One letter, written when she was ten, shows her concern for ‘Ben’, her favourite toy pony, which she left with Sonia as the family moved into Buckingham Palace following the abdication of her uncle, Edward VIII, making her father King George VI.

Written on Palace headed notepaper on March 7, 1937, she thanked Sonia for looking after Ben.

The remarkable friendship started when Princess Elizabeth (left) suddenly ran up to Sonia (right)– the daughter of prominent radiologist Harold Graham-Hodgson – in Hamilton Gardens, Piccadilly, and asked if she wanted to play

Whenever she stayed at royal residences around the country, young Princess Elizabeth, known as ‘Lilibet’, kept up a lively correspondence with her dear friend

Inviting her friend for tea, young Lilibet asked: ‘Please, do you think you could bring “Ben” with you? Could you bear it? I am sure he enjoyed staying with you.’

She asked her friend to excuse any ‘blots, messes etc’ as the letter was written hurriedly after a busy day enjoying the snow at Royal Lodge. ‘We made an igloo, an arm chair and an iced cake,’ she says excitedly. The reunion appears not to have taken place, and a further letter in April 1937, this time from Windsor Castle, asks Sonia to send Ben to London ‘in a paper parcel… I don’t think he’d mind being wrapped up for a little, do you?’

Three years earlier, on September 14, 1934 the eight-year-old Princess wrote to Sonia from Birkhall, on the Balmoral estate, where she was staying with her parents and her sister, Margaret, telling her friend all about her new ‘naughty’ pony called Pixie and going for picnics with her mother.

But not all was rosy in Royal Deeside as Elizabeth spoke about holding a funeral for a dead robin found in the grounds. ‘We dug a hole and filled it with rose petals and flowers and covered him and put round the grave blue flowers,’ the future Queen wrote.

Elizabeth asked her friend to excuse any ‘blots, messes etc’ as the letter was written hurriedly after a busy day enjoying the snow at Royal Lodge

Princess Elizabeth (left) pictured with her sister Margaret (right) and her beloved toy pony ‘Ben’ (circled) who she left in Sonia’s care when she moved into Buckingham Palace

The girls did not see each other during the Second World War but afterwards they continued to meet and correspond until Sonia’s death in 2012, aged 86. By that point she was known by her married name, Berry.

Sonia’s daughter, Victoria d’Anyers Willis, yesterday recalled: ‘They got on really well and seemed to just click. They saw each other as much as they could and they corresponded right until my mother died.’

It was a remarkably enduring friendship which started when five-year-old Princess Elizabeth suddenly ran up to Sonia – the daughter of prominent radiologist Harold Graham-Hodgson – in Hamilton Gardens, Piccadilly, and asked if she wanted to play.

They shared dancing and skating lessons, dined at each other’s homes and attended Brownies and Girl Guides together. In later years, the Princess and her then fiancé, Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, attended Sonia’s 21st birthday party and she in turn was a guest at their 1947 wedding in Westminster Abbey.

Ms d’Anyers Willis recalled how the Queen was a frequent visitor to their family home as she grew up. She said: ‘The first time I was introduced to the Queen at our house in London, I was five and my brother was three. I can remember having the day off school, which was very exciting, and he was practising his bow and I was practising my curtsey. I remember looking out the window for her to arrive because I thought she’d be wearing a crown. She wasn’t, which was disappointing.

The Queen makes another attempt to be reunited with her toy pony, after thanking Sonia for her gifts and mentioning some correspondence between her governess, Crawfie, and Sonia’s, Willie

Sonia (left) and Elizabeth (right, with Margaret on the trike) shared dancing and skating lessons, dined at each other’s homes and attended Brownies and Girl Guides together

‘We were brought in in our best bib and tucker to meet her and my brother bowed so low that he nearly fell into her lap. It was very funny as she suddenly said, ‘Oh be careful’ and propped him up before he actually landed on her.

‘As we grew older, she would sometimes come to dinner parties too but I didn’t go to those as they were for my mother’s friends only. Instead, I’d have my supper with the detective in the kitchen.

‘Thanks to my mother’s lifelong friendship with her, we were fortunate to see a more relaxed side of the Queen.

‘My mother was a kind, generous person and a stickler for manners, similar to Her Majesty.’

Going through her mother’s scrapbook and photographs, she said: ‘I feel very nostalgic looking at them, knowing how fond they were of each other and that the Queen has now gone too. She was the last of my mother’s friends still living and I know she was 96 but it was still a shock. It definitely feels as if it’s the end of an era. I am very proud my mother was a part of it.’

Writing from Scotland, the eight-year-old Princess told Sonia about her pony and a dead bird in a handwritten letter we have reproduced in type

Sonia (pictured) remained friends with the Queen into adulthood and was a guest at Elizabeth and Philip’s 1947 wedding in Westminster Abbey

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