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Mary Lincoln's response to Queen Victoria

Mary Lincoln's response to Queen Victoria

Upon receiving a note of sympathy from Queen Victoria, Mary Lincoln wrote the following response: “I have received the letter which Your Majesty has had the kindness to write and am deeply grateful for its expressions of tender sympathy, coming as they do from a heart which from its own Sorrow, can appreciate the intense grief I now endure. Accept, Madam, the assurances of my heartfelt thanks and believe me in the deepest sorrow, Your Majesty’s Sincere and grateful friend.” The queen’s letter to the widowed Lincoln had been intended, of course, for publication and was not in fact a personal letter. Mrs. Lincoln, who seems to have missed this point, responded intimately, referring to the death of Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert, who had died four years before and for whom the queen’s tireless mourning was well known.

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Library of Congress

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