My royal pen pal!
US pensioner’s 20-year bond with teenage waitress who became the Duchess of York
WATCHING the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson from her California home in 1986, Elaine Adams felt there was something familiar about the bubbly redhead marrying into the Royal Family.
The American suspected the new Duchess of York was the teenage waitress with a British accent who had chatted to her and served her lunch at a restaurant in a ski resort near Lake Tahoe in the late 1970s.
Eventually, Mrs Adams wrote a letter, via Buckingham Palace, recalling their meeting – and was astonished to receive a reply from the duchess saying she was right.
It sparked a 20-year friendship and an astonishing exchange of correspondence and gifts which Mrs Adams, now 93, has finally decided to make public.
She told the Daily Mail: ‘I’ve decided to share them now, after so long, because I want people to know how kind Sarah is.’
Since that first speculative inquiry, the two have exchanged handwritten letters and gifts every year, along with Christmas cards and photos showing their families growing up. Most recently Mrs Adams was thrilled to receive a signed photo card commemorating Princess Eugenie’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank at Windsor Castle on October 12 last year.
Recalling her encounter with a teenage Sarah, Mrs Adams said she and her husband Cliff were taking his new car for a drive from their home in Sacramento to the Squaw Valley ski resort when they stopped at a coffee shop for lunch. They were greeted by a redheaded waitress with a distinctive British accent.
‘Since the restaurant was nearly deserted, she repeatedly checked on us, making pleasant conversation each time she came to our table,’ remembers Mrs Adams.
The 17-year- old told them she and a friend had planned an American road trip that her father had sanctioned but not paid for. After they ran out of money in San Francisco, the adventurous pals took a Greyhound bus to Squaw Valley in the hope of finding work.
There they picked up casual jobs, cleaning rooms, waiting tables and – in the ski season – accomplished skier Sarah worked as an instructor with children.
When they left, the American couple expected to never see their friendly waitress again.
But on July 23, 1986, along with 500million others worldwide, they watched the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. It was then that Mrs Adams began to suspect the waitress and the new duchess were one and the same.
However, it wasn’t until 13 years later, after the royal divorce, that Mrs Adams, a retired writer and PR executive, decided to find out. She wrote to the duchess and, in June 1999, was astonished to receive a heart-warming reply.
‘You will never know the effect your letter had on me!’ Sarah wrote. ‘I was indeed the girl who served you in the Squaw Valley coffee shop … It has brought back so many memories.’
Ever since, the duchess has sent regular letters and gifts, including a ‘Sarah’ doll produced to raise money for her children’s charity, her children’s book Ballerina Rosie published in 2012, and a round china box, a memento of William and Kate’s 2011 wedding.
The duchess has also sent many photos, taken by herself and with handwritten inscriptions, along with thoughtful English treats, such as teas and biscuits.
The letters regularly open with ‘Dearest Elaine’ and are signed ‘with special love’. One, sent after Mrs Adams shared details of her granddaughter’s breast cancer, is particularly treasured. Sarah wrote: ‘I am always here for you and your family, dearest Elaine. All these years we have been together …’
Mrs Adams has since met the duchess twice, first in 2000 after she appeared on the Good Day Sacramento TV show and invited Mrs Adams to tea, then in 2003 when Sarah made a speech on women’s health in neighbouring Roseville and they shared tea again.
Last night the duchess told the Daily Mail: ‘I remember being so moved when Elaine went out of her way to write to me all those years ago at a difficult time in my life. Her letter reminded me that at heart I was still just that same girl who had been waiting her table in Squaw Valley.
‘I now have her letter framed and we have kept in touch ever since. She is a very special lady and I’m honoured that she has chosen to speak about our friendship in such a warm way. As ever, I am sending her lots of love from England.’
‘I want to tell people how kind she is’