Postal cards to Léopold Richard in Monaco at the Prince de Galles Hotel in 1899 & 1901

 

Prince de Galles Hotel Built in 1865 with 64 rooms

Those of us who collect postal cards inevitably become voyeurs into the lives of the card recipients.  We momentarily travel back in time, sharing in the recipient’s experiences.  Much of what we read about are mundane details of the sort more often encountered in diaries.  But these details give us a very real glimpse into what life was like long ago.

I’ve seen many cards addressed to the philanthropist Léopold Richard in Wiltz in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  But here are two that are special because they were sent to him from Luxembourg while he was staying at the Prince de Galles hotel just outside of Monte Carlo, Monaco, in February 1899 and February 1901.  Perhaps he found the harsh Ardennes winters disagreeable.  In blue crayon on the cards, we even see his hotel room numbers.

Luxembourg-Ville, 13 February 1899, Monte Carlo, Monaco, 15 February 1899

 

Schimpach-Kautenbach TPO,  5 February 1901, Transit Paris, France 6 February 1901, Monte Carlo, Monaco, 7 February 1901

 

But during the winter of 1906, Monsieur Richard was staying at the Hotel du Helder in Monte Carlo, where he received news from Wiltz about a lovely four-year-old St. Bernard dog:   Wiltz, 3 March 1906, Monte Carlo, Monaco, 6 March 1906