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Fleming's love letters to real Moneypenny
22.10.08
FOUR flirtatious love letters from Ian Fleming to the woman who became Miss Moneypenny, James Bond's secretary, are to be sold in London.
The author wrote them to Loelia Ponsonby, third wife of Bendor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, whom she divorced in 1947. They were written before and during the Second World War, when Fleming was at the War Office. The correspondence addressed to "Darling L" and "Dear Loelia" is full of gossip about their upper class circle and their meetings on the London society circuit.
Asking her to the Blenheim Ball he writes: "I shall come and wake you with a kiss. I shall sleep outside (I said outside) your door and live on luft und liebe which means air and love in case you weren't finished." The letters, one signed SWAK (sealed with a kiss) and "This is a love letter!", are expected to fetch about £3,500 at Christie's next month.
