A LOVE letter from the future King Edward VIII to his mistress Freda Dudley Ward has been sold for £1,320 at auction – more than double the sum it had been expected to fetch.

The letter, which was written at Buckingham Palace and dated May 28, 1919, was one of nearly 2,000 letters the 24-year-old Prince of Wales wrote during his 16-year relationship with Mrs Dudley Ward, who was also 24 and married to Southampton MP William Dudley Ward at the time.

Before the sale on Tuesday at Reeman Dansie Auctions in Colchester, Essex, the letter, which was part of a collection belonging to a royal memorabilia aficionado, Jim Hanson, had been expected to sell for between £300 and £500.

However, the letter, which begins “My very own darling precious little Fredie” and signs off “Your very own devoted adoring little David”, went for over £1,000, resulting in Reeman Dansie’s managing director James Grinter saying he was “delighted” with the outcome of the auction, which received “worldwide interest”.

In the letter the Prince thanks Mrs Dudley Ward for her letter and tells her how much he is looking forward to seeing her.

William Dudley Ward married Freda Dudley Ward (nee Birkin) in 1913 when he was 35 and she was 18. They were divorced in 1931.

Dudley Ward became the Liberal MP for Southampton in 1906 and held the seat until 1922.He was still Southampton’s MP when Freda began her affair with the Prince.