Queen’s letter reveals ‘bitter anger’ she felt following Lord Moutbatten’s assassination

King Charles’s goddaughter has revealed a letter sent by the late Queen following the murder of Lord Louis Mountbatten in 1979 in which she recalls feeling ‘bitter anger’ at a ‘senseless waste of life’.

India Hicks posted a photo of the framed letter, written by Queen Elizabeth II to former US ambassador to the UK Walter Annenburg on her Instagram story while she is visiting the Annenberg retreat at Sunnylands in California.

The 55-year-old, who is the daughter of Lady Pamela Hicks and the granddaughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten, described her late grandfather as ‘wonderful’ in the series of Instagram stories showing her followers around the retreat.

The letter, which is in part handwritten by the late monarch, refers to Lord Louis ‘Dickie’ Mountbatten as a ‘splendid person’ after he was assassinated in an IRA attack after a bomb was planted on his boat in Sligo, Ireland, in 1979.

It addresses security concerns which appear to have been raised by Mr Annenberg following the assassination and thanks the diplomat for his words of condolence.

In the letter, which has been framed and put on a wall in the Annenberg retreat, Her late Majesty wrote: ‘Thank you for your kind letter of sympathy on the tragic death of Dickie Mountbatten, which we greatly appreciated.

‘He was a splendid person and will be much missed.’ 

In her own handwriting she added: ‘Now that a little time has passed and we are able to see beyond the bitter anger of such senseless waste of life and the fact that we must not be intimidated by such horrible people, you may rest assured we have taken into account anxieties like yours!’

The letter signs off with ‘Elizabeth R’, with the R standing for regina, the Latin word for queen.

As India shared photos and videos of the retreat on her Instagram story, she also showed followers a glimpse of a photo of Queen Elizabeth sitting on a golf buggy with Mr Annenberg.

India Hicks (pictured with her mother Lady Pamela Hicks at the Queen’s funeral) was bridesmaid at King Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding in 1981

India Hicks is the granddaughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten (pictured) who was assassinated by an IRA bomb in Sligo, Ireland in 1979

The date of the photo is unclear, however the late monarch is sporting a brunette hairstyle in the snap. Beaming for the camera, she is wearing a rain hat to cover her head.

Mother-of-five India, who attended Queen Elizabeth’s funeral with her mother Lady Pamela Hicks last September, has previously revealed she cannot get used to the idea her godfather is now King.

Speaking a few weeks after the monarch’s death in September 2022, the socialite admitted it felt ‘strange’ referring to King Charles by his new title as he ascended the throne.

She shared photos of a charity bike ride on Instagram which she had undertaken to raise money for the Prince’s Trust, the King’s charity.

She wrote: ‘King Charles (still feels strange saying that) set up the charity in 1976 with a few thousand pounds of his severance pay from the Navy, to tackle high youth unemployment which he feared would leave young people marginalised.’

The socialite, who was bridesmaid at the King’s wedding to Princess Diana in 1981, has also recently praised the Princess of Wales for ‘finding her balance’ in her new role following Queen Elizabeth’s death, describing her as ‘extraordinary’.