Sophie Frederika Mathilde of Wrttemberg (1818-1877) was born on 17 June 1818, the youngest child of King William I of Württemberg and his second wife, Grand Duchess Catharina Paulowna of Russia, daughter of Tsar Paul I. On 18 June 1839 she married her first cousin, William (1817-1890), who became King of the Netherlands in 1849. The couple had two sons, William (b. 1840) and Maurice (b. 1843). Sophie had a quiet existence at The Hague, where she read literature, studied and corresponded with acquaintances outside the Netherlands. She died at Het Huis ten Bosch on 3 June 1877.
Mary Anne Dora, Lady Malet (c. 1810-1891), was the only child of John Spalding and Mary Anne Spalding, ne Eden. She married the diplomat Sir Alexander Malet (1800-1886) on 22 December 1834, and that year moved to The Hague, where her husband had been appointed secretary of legation. The couple remained in the Netherlands for nearly nine years before Malet was transferred to Vienna, then Stuttgart. He was appointed British minister-plenipotentiary to the German Confederation at Frankfurt in 1849. After Malet's retirement in 1866, the couple lived at Wilbury House in Wiltshire. Lady Malet corresponded with Queen Sophie almost weekly over a period of thirty-five years. Although Sophie destroyed the letters she received from her friend, Lady Malet ignored her friend's request to destroy her own letters.
From the guide to the Sophie, Queen of the Netherlands: Letters to Lady Malet, c. 1979 (copy of originals of 1842-1877), (Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives)
