These Are the Most Romantic Letters You Will Ever Read

Throughout history, love letters have been the timeless and expressive means to capture the deepest emotions of the human heart. From famous figures to ordinary people, these letters have become a treasured testament to the power of love. But, what about you? Are you a hopeless romantic looking for some inspiration or just a curious reader wanting to delve into the world of love letters? Look no further! We have compiled a collection of the most heart-melting and romantic letters ever written that will make you believe in the power of love.

6 Iconic and Most Romantic Letters Ever Written

Here are some memorable romantic letters throughout history that will make you believe in love again:

1. Napoleon and Joséphine

French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, renowned for his ruthlessness as a ruler, also displayed a tender side in his correspondence with his wife, Joséphine. These letters reveal a vulnerability contrasting with his autocratic demeanor in expanding the French empire. Despite ultimately divorcing Joséphine due to her inability to bear children, Napoleon continued to write to her for years afterward. One poignant letter, written while commanding the French army near Italy shortly after their marriage expresses his deep longing for her.

The letter read: “Since I left you, I have been constantly depressed. My happiness is to be near you. Incessantly I live over in my memory your caresses, your tears, your affectionate solicitude. The charms of the incomparable Joséphine kindle continually a burning and a glowing flame in my heart. When, free from all solicitude, all harassing care, shall I be able to pass all my time with you, having only to love you, and to think only of the happiness of so saying, and of proving it to you?”

2. Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas

In June 1891, Oscar Wilde, the Irish poet and playwright, encountered Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, a 21-year-old Oxford student and gifted poet. Their meeting sparked a passionate affair, with Bosie becoming Wilde’s muse and lover. During this period, Wilde produced significant works such as Salomé and his four renowned plays, which remain central to his literary reputation. However, societal norms of the time did not approve of their relationship, forcing them to keep it clandestine. Despite the challenges, Wilde’s surviving letters testify to the enduring strength of their love.

The letter included: “Everyone is furious with me for going back to you, but they don’t understand us. I feel that it is only with you that I can do anything at all. Do remake my ruined life for me, and then our friendship and love will have a different meaning to the world. I wish that when we met at Rouen we had not parted at all. There are such wide abysses now of space and land between us. But we love each other.”

3. Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf

Celebrated writer Virginia Woolf and English poet Vita Sackville-West engaged in a series of exquisitely crafted love letters to each other. However, a letter from Vita, dated January 21, 1927, sent from Milan, stands out as a particularly candid insight into their love story.

The famous letter read: “I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia. I composed a beautiful letter to you in the sleepless nightmare hours of the night, and it has all gone: I just miss you, in a quite simple desperate human way. You, with all your undumb letters, would never write so elementary a phrase as that; perhaps you wouldn’t even feel it. And yet I believe you’ll be sensible of a little gap. But you’d clothe it in so exquisite a phrase that it should lose a little of its reality. Whereas with me it is quite stark: I miss you even more than I could have believed; and I was prepared to miss you a good deal.

It continued: “So this letter is really just a squeal of pain. It is incredible how essential to me you have become. I suppose you are accustomed to people saying these things. Damn you, spoilt creature; I shan’t make you love me any more by giving myself away like this — But oh my dear, I can’t be clever and stand-offish with you: I love you too much for that. Too truly. You have no idea how stand-offish I can be with people I don’t love. I have brought it to a fine art. But you have broken down my defenses. And I don’t really resent it.”

4. Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

Frida Kahlo and her husband, fellow artist Diego Rivera, had a famously turbulent relationship, but Kahlo’s love letters to Rivera reveal only profound affection. These letters, spanning the 27 years of their union, highlight the intense yet tumultuous bond they shared. In one excerpt from “The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait,” Kahlo expressed the depth of their emotional intimacy.

One of the letters included: “Nothing compares to your hands, nothing like the green-gold of your eyes. My body is filled with you for days and days. You are the mirror of the night. The violent flash of lightning. The dampness of the earth. The hollow of your armpits is my shelter. My fingers touch your blood. All my joy is to feel life spring from your flower-fountain that mine keeps to fill all the paths of my nerves which are yours.”

5. Beethoven and His “Immortal Beloved”

The true identity of Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved,” to whom he wrote numerous passionate letters in 1812, remains largely unknown. However, these letters depict a profound and captivating love affair. Many historians speculate that Beethoven’s beloved may have been Antonie Brentano, the daughter of a diplomat, to whom the composer dedicated his “Diabelli Variations Op. 120.”

The letter read: “Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, Be calm-love me-today-yesterday-what tearful longings for you-you-you-my life-my all-farewell. Oh, continue to love me-never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved. Ever thine. Forever mine. Ever ours.”

6. Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

Henry VIII, who reigned as King of England for 38 years, penned a series of secret and romantic letters to his lover, Anne Boleyn, which have survived to this day. Despite his reputation as a despotic ruler with six wives, two of whom he executed, including Anne, Henry was also renowned as a great romantic. His letters to Anne during their prolonged courtship period reflect his passionate and affectionate nature.

The letter entailed: “But if you please to do the office of a true loyal mistress and friend, and to give up yourself body and heart to me, who will be, and have been, your most loyal servant, (if your rigour does not forbid me) I promise you that not only the name shall be given you, but also that I will take you for my only mistress, casting off all others besides you out of my thoughts and affections, and serve you only. I beseech you to give an entire answer to this my rude letter, that I may know on what and how far I may depend. And if it does not please you to answer me in writing, appoint some place where I may have it by word of mouth, and I will go thither with all my heart. No more, for fear of tiring you.”

What is your favorite one out of all these romantic letters we have mentioned?

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