The Sweet Hobby Meghan Markle And Princess Diana Share

Meghan Markle is inevitably going to be compared to other royals, most notably her sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, and of course, the late Princess Diana. It makes sense that both William and Harry have sought out partners who embody a lot of Diana’s finer qualities, as they were very close to their mother and loved her dearly. Kate, for example, has Diana’s penchant for style and Meghan seems to share some of her beliefs on manners and etiquette.

The Mirror reports that both Meghan and Diana believe in writing personal letters and thank-you notes in their own hand. The duchess outlined how much she loves receiving handwritten letters as well on her old lifestyle blog, The Tig. The Tig has now been removed from the Internet, although some posts can still be found.

In an old post about her love of nostalgia, she wrote about her delight in receiving a note from a pen pal.

“I absolutely relish it. I know my mailman’s name, I race to the door when the mail comes (usually just fliers or bills), but I always hold out hope there will be a letter. A sweet letter. And that I will have the tactile experience of un-creasing the paper, reciting the words, and holding someone’s thoughts in my hands.”

Princess Diana’s authorized biography, written by Andrew Morton, highlights how much she enjoyed writing and receiving letters as well. Apparently, after her wedding to Prince Charles, the princess took it upon herself to personally respond to many of the 47,000 notes and 10,000 gifts sent in response to the event. Granted, she did have assistance from her staff, but personal notes from Diana are now a cherished collector’s item, as she enjoyed sending them to friends, family, and members of the public on occasion.

Meghan also has taken things a step further, having stated in the past that she learned calligraphy and occasionally used to hand-letter wedding invitations and other event-related materials as a side gig while she was working as an actress in Los Angeles.

Writing hand-written letters and thank-you notes is meant to signify a lot about a person’s character, as it is considered by many to be going above and beyond. While a thank-you note used to be de rigueur, today it means that the sender has especially good manners. This little bit of etiquette wisdom embraced by Meghan is sure to endear her to the British people, who already seem rather fond of the Suits actress-turned-duchess.