A collection of nine Christine Keeler letters sent home from prison
dated 8 December 1963 to 19 April 1964,

written by Christine Keeler to her parents while she was interned in Parkhurst Holloway Prison for six months after her conviction for perjury, each letter is on HM prison notepaper with her prison number, 7904, together with three envelopes addressed to her parents

Selected quotations from each letter below:

Letter 1 - 8.12.1963
'Don’t worry I’m fine infact it’s just like school, and there is a girl here I went to school with.'

Letter 2 - 29.12.1963
'I do hope you’re both well as I worry about you both dreadfully, you have even more time to worry about things (good job your not here mum ha! ha!) no seriously, do look after yourselves and drive carefully and all that, your all I’v got in the world.'
'I keep forgetting I can’t get out ha! ha!'

Letter 3 - 12.01.1964
'Things have gone very fast in the past year but I’m still your daughter and I’ll be coming home again soon every weekend when people have forgotten all about me, there is nothing to fight but everything to forget.'
'Funny isn’t it I’v always keep your from certain things in my life as I’v thought you to precious and me to bad, but I suppose you have always known about everything.'

Letter 4 - 03.02.1964
'I’ve only got one page as I wrote to Mark as well. I told him that it is best for us just to be friends, as I don’ really love him…'

Letter 5 - 01.03.1964
'… don’t worry mum, I’m not going to do anything wrong so don’t even think of it, remember I have learnt to let the water just run off my back and I love and miss you both…'
'I am only young and I should start on a career of some sort seeing as my name is well known I might as well carry on with that and make lots of money ha! ha!'

Letter 6 - 08.03.1964
'...it is so hard to write four pages to anyone when nothing ever happens here...'
'I know that you will keep all my letters, its going to be fun to read them again, if you haven’t then start keeping them from now please and lets have a joke about them one day.'

Letter 7 - 15.03.1964
'Terrible about Mandy being thrown out of Turkey.'
'… she has made a flop of her singing career.'
'He has been lecturing me about what I must do when I leave ha! According to him I mustn’t even be seen with a man ha! ha!'

Letter 8 - 12.04.1964
'I am gradually arranging with Mr Lyons of what I am going to do when I leave it looks like I’m going to have a busy time…'

Letter 9 - 19.04.1964
'Not long now (I can’t wait).'

(12)

19 x 11.5cm and similar

Acquired directly from Christine Keeler.

It was Keeler's link to the Profumo Affair - a scandal that rocked the nation in the early 1960s - that ultimately led to her six-month imprisonment for perjury from December 1963. In 1961, Keeler, then aged 19 and working as a model/topless showgirl, met John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government. The two began a short-lived affair, whilst stories began to circulate that Keeler was also romantically involved with Yevgeny Ivanov, Soviet military attaché in London.

Profumo initially denied the affair in a statement to the House of Commons in 1963, but later admitted that he had lied during the police investigation. The scandal of his lie and the obvious security dangers of the Ivanov situation irreparably damaged the government’s credibility, and Macmillan resigned as Prime Minister in October 1963, citing ill health, with the fallout contributing to the Conservatives' defeat in the 1964 general election.

Stephen Ward - osteopath to royalty and nobility, and the man who introduced Keeler to Profumo - was accused of pimping out Keeler and her friend, Mandy Rice-Davies. He was taken to court, but committed suicide before a verdict could be made. This, along with another trial of one of Keeler's lovers accused of attacking Keeler at her home, which was proven false, led to her imprisonment for perjury.

'I bought these letters from Christine, which she had written to her parents whilst in Holloway Prison. These sad but sweet letters really show her vulnerability and youth.'

Condition Report

Discolouration to the paper. Some dirty marks and stains. Original folds. If additional images are required please contact the department.

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