1846 Letter from British PRINCE ALBERT’S SECRET AGENT to PORTUGAL

Description: 1846 Letter from British PRINCE ALBERT’S SECRET AGENT to PORTUGAL Colonel W. Wylde, Lt. Col., Royal Artillery, Autograph Letter Signed (retained copy). HMS Cyclops, Off Oporto, Nov. 7, 1846. 3pp. 4.5 x 7”. To Her Majesty’s Consul at Oporto. Vertical fold, otherwise Very Good. “I have been sent out by H.M’s Govt. on a special Mission to Lisbon, with Instructions to communicate with you on my way, for the purpose of ascertaining the state of Affairs in the North of Portugal, but as the Pilot informs me has a most sensitive order from the Commandant of the Castle not to allow any one to land from this vessel, and that this letter must be taken to the Commandant and will be examined by him previous to its being delivered to you, I shall proceed without further delay to Lisbon. I leave of course to you discretion the calling the attention of the Junta or whoever is in command at Oporto to the grave responsibility they incur in thus preventing the free communication of Her M’s Officers with you as British Consul.” In 1846, Portugal, a constitutional monarchy, was thrown into civil war when a “peasant revolt” resulted in the ouster of the unpopular chief Minister, who fled to England. The British Government decided to intervene in the troubles and, for some reason, did so under the watchful eye of Queen Victoria’s husband and Consort, Prince Albert, who enlisted his most trusted servant and “Groom of the Bedchamber”, Colonel (later Major General) William Henry Wylde, as secret agent of the Foreign Office. This letter, the Colonel’s own retained copy, was sent to a British diplomat just as Wylde arrived in Portugal on a British warship, but he would remain, intimately involved in Portuguese political affairs throughout the civil war. Obviously, such letters written by British diplomatic secret agents are rarely seen outside of institutional collections. Indeed, Prince Albert’s own correspondence with Wylde during these tumultuous events are closely held among Albert’s Official Papers by the Royal Collection Trust.

Price: 75 USD

Location: Merced, California

End Time: 2025-01-28T23:48:42.000Z

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