ROYALTY – EDWARD (PRINCE OF WALES) Autograph letter signed ("Edward P") to Colonel Birkin ("Dear Colonel Birkin"), thanking him for the cheque and "...glad that the pony suits Penelope so well & tho I should have preferred giving it myself I understand your wanting to fulfil your promise. I understand Freda is arranging to have the pony in London during the school term...", 2 pages, dust-staining, creased at folds, 8vo (203 x 128mm.), St. James' Palace, "Sunday" [postmark 7 February 1927]; with autograph envelope (2) 'SO GLAD THAT THE PONY SUITS PENELOPE SO WELL': EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, ATTEMPTS TO BUY A PONY FOR HIS LOVER'S DAUGHTER. The recipient of our letter, Colonel Charles Wilfrid Birkin (1865-1932), of Lamcote House, Radcliffe on Trent, was the father of Freda Dudley Ward, long-term lover of the Prince of Wales. Despite Freda being married with two children, Penelope mentioned here being the eldest, the affair was common knowledge in aristocratic circles and continued for some sixteen years from their first meeting in 1918, only ending when Edward met Wallis Simpson. Whilst Birkin facilitated the relationship by allowing the couple to meet at the family home, here he sends a cheque in recompense for what he perceived as an inappropriate gift to a child from her mother's illicit lover. Penelope went on to become a well-known actress, whose second husband was film director, Carol Reed.