[Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.] Manuscript text of an 1862 telegram from ‘Prince Alfred to The Queen / Osborne’, asking for ‘the Fairy’ to be sent to Southampton.

An amusing piece of Victorian memorabilia. Written in pencil on one side of a slip of paper, roughly 14 x 7 cm, torn from the bottom of a leaf. Both sides of the paper are ruled, with the ruling on the reverse wider spaced. Confirming the fact that the item is a telegram is the fact that the word ‘Clerk.’ is printed at bottom right of the reverse, with the word ‘Railway’ in pencil at top right. The puzzling text of the telegram, no doubt in the hand of the telegram clerk, reads, with annotation ‘1862’: ‘Rugby / From Prince Alfred to The Queen / Osborne / I hope to be at Southampton about nine o clock. And wish the Fairy to be sent there to wait for me. / 26 Feby’. See Image.