Royalty – Autograph – Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria. Autograph letter in the third person to Lt Colonel Wright 3pp. Letter dated Sidmouth 26, Dec 1819, reporting on the health of the baby Queen Victoria who was at that time seven months old. The main body of the letter concerns Wright’s arrival in Ceylon [Sri Lanka] and the Duke comments on the general military situation in the area and urges Wright to keep informing the Government of any developments in the region. Mention of Lt Colonel Wright and the Foreign Office, Downing Street, London. “The Duke is extremely grateful that Colonel Wright for his enquiries after the Duchess and is happy in being able to add that both are well as is their infant who is now seven months old”. Unsigned. Engraved portraiture of Edward Duke of Kent and Strathearn. This letter was written less than a month before the Duke went swimming off Sidmouth beach, caught a chill and died of pneumonia, thus paving the way for his infant daughter to become Queen in 1837. The Duke is also known as the ‘Father of the Canadian Crown’ being the first to use the term ‘Canadian’ to mean both French and English settlers in Canada. He is also the first British Royal to have entered the newly independent USA.