124. IMPERIAL PRINCE. 2 letters and 2 drawings... Lot 124

124. IMPERIAL PRINCE. 2 letters and 2 drawings - Autograph letter signed to the widow of Marshal Auguste Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély, Anne-Angélique Ruby. Woolwich Military Academy [south-east of London], 20 August 1873. "Your heart, Madame la Maréchale, was associated with the sad emotions of this day of August 15 [Saint Napoleon's Day], which recalled to us such beautiful and painful memories [Napoleon III had died in January of this year 183]. If anything has helped us to overcome the bitterness of these memories, it is the faithful and precious friendships with which we are surrounded, and in the first rank of which I place yours. Allow me to thank you from the bottom of my heart, Madame la maréchale, in the name of the Empress and in my own name. Give my best wishes to all of you...". - Autograph letter signed to Edmond Davillier, son-in-law of Marshal Auguste Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély. Camden Place in Chislehurst [in Kent, southeast of London], n.d. "I thank you for the letter you wrote to me announcing the forthcoming marriage of your daughter [Madeleine]. Young Mariani is a charming officer [Antoine Mariani, son of Baron Louis-Thomas Mariani, an important player in the 1851 coup d'état, and a former aide-de-camp to Napoleon III], and I am sure our fiancés will be perfectly happy. This union between two such devoted families gives me the greatest pleasure. I can guess what your happiness must be, and you know enough of my friendship for me to think that I share it from the bottom of my heart..." - Original drawing signed "Louis Napoleon", in pencil, 17 x 15 cm on an oblong in-folio sheet, with date in another hand, "June 1863". - Drawing by another hand, in ink, with handwritten dispatch "To Mr. Edmond Davillier", and bearing an autograph signature "Louis Napoleon" with date in another hand, "Château de Saint-Cloud 2 Nov. 1866". - Joined, 2 drawings without signature, one night view of a castle (ink, pen and wash), the other simple sketch with soldier's head, and a press clipping publishing the text of the letter addressed by the Prince Imperial at the time of his departure for South Africa, to the former Minister of State Eugène Rouher, kingpin of the Bonapartist party.