A sequence of nine ALS from Royal Lady of the Bedchamber Jane Ely 1876-1886

ELY, Jane, Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria. A sequence of nine letters to Lady Enid Layard.
 
Nine autograph letters signed to Lady Enid Layard, written from various places including Windsor, Osborne, Balmoral and Rome, 1876–1886.
 
Nine ALS (c. 26 pp.), on mourning and plain paper, one embossed with a crest and another on headed paper; clear and legible in Ely’s hand; old folds, a few with small splits, one letter with a repair to a long tear on the last sheet, otherwise in very good condition.
 
An insightful sequence of letters from Jane, Lady Ely (1814–1903), one of Queen Victoria’s closest attendants, to her friend Lady Enid Layard (1843-1912), socialite, diarist and wife of the archaeologist and diplomat, Sir Austen Henry Layard.
 
Written over a decade, the correspondence offers a personal view of court life, the Queen’s family, and the atmosphere of the 1870s–80s. Ely repeatedly conveys messages from the Queen (“Her Majesty was much interested in your letter… she said it was well written”), reflects on royal marriages and bereavements, and reports on the Queen’s children and grandchildren, with particular reference to Princess Louise, Princess Beatrice, and Prince Leopold. Two of the letters respond to Leopold’s death in 1884, recording how deeply it affected both the Queen and the wider family circle.
 
Alongside domestic and courtly matters, Ely comments incidentally on contemporary political affairs: international tensions in Ireland, Italy and the Cape; the “excitement for the meeting of Parliament”; and Lord Randolph Churchill’s manoeuvres, which she notes caused anxiety at court though she hoped the ministry would survive. Later letters remark on the Queen’s continued vigour (“The Queen spoke in Parliament herself this year… she is wonderfully well”) and on mutual friends in Madrid and Florence. A content-rich run of correspondence from a senior member of Queen Victoria’s household.