Love Letters season
Discover 500 years of devotion, longing, sacrifice and passion through our events programme.
Exhibition
Love Letters
500 years of devotion, longing, sacrifice and passion.
- Date
- 24 January to 12 April 2026
- Price
- Free
About this image
Niday Picture Library / Alamy
About Love Letters
Across time, people have sought connection in countless ways. From heartfelt declarations and calculated proposals to anonymous and desperate love songs.
A free exhibition at The National Archives in Kew, Love Letters will feature correspondence that spans over 500 years of devotion, longing, sacrifice, heartache, and passion.
Covering royalty and parliamentarians, literary icons and unknown scribes, Love Letters will open the envelope on the stories behind the documents and the consequences of their being, from eternal blessing to execution.
This revealing exhibition will feature not only letters, but declarations of love in other forms, including poems and drawings, official memorials and wills.
Encompassing forbidden relationships and family members separated by distance and circumstance, Love Letters will offer a rare glimpse into personal emotions captured in a government collection – tender, intimate and deeply human.
Please note: The ideas and terms contained in the records that appear in this exhibition reflect the attitudes and language of their authors and the period in which the records were created. Some would now be considered offensive.
Exhibition highlights
Documents on display not to miss
Image 1 of 3
A passionate plea for clemency from Oscar Wilde’s lover, Lord Alfred Douglas.
Image 2 of 3
Jane Austen’s will, which gives fascinating insight into the iconic author’s familial relationships.
Image 3 of 3
King Edward VIII’s signed Instrument of Abdication, a document that shocked the monarchy and the nation.
Plan your visit
What is The National Archives?
The National Archives is the official archive of the UK government, and England and Wales. We are the guardians of over 1,000 years of iconic national documents.
Everyone is welcome to visit our headquarters in Kew. We put on exhibitions, events and displays and offer reading rooms giving access to our collections there.
Getting here
The National Archives is located by the River Thames in Kew, 30 minutes from Central London. We offer advice on travelling to us by car, bike, train or bus.
Opening times
Love Letters opens on 24 January 2026.
See our opening times.
Accessibility
Everyone is welcome to visit this exhibition.
- There is step-free level access throughout all areas
- The exhibition has low lighting levels
- It includes pictures, audio, information boards, televisions/screens and interactive exhibits at a suitable height for a wheelchair user
- Large print guides are available
Children and families
We provide a warm welcome to visitors of all ages, including children and family groups.
- Free activity sheets (for ages 1+) are available from the Time Travel Club trolley in our entrance hall
- Our café is child-friendly and there are picnic benches outside
- Prams and buggies are welcome, and we have a buggy park
- Baby changing facilities are located by our entrance hall, at the top of the main stairs, and in the library
- Emergency supplies of nappies and wipes are available
Eat and drink
We have a café and coffee bar provided by Maids of Honour, a historic local tea room and bakery. It has spacious indoor and outside seating and a soft play area.
On the menu is a variety of high-quality lunchtime meals, sandwiches, snacks, soft drinks, tea and coffee. Vegetarians, vegans and other dietary requirements are all catered to.
Exhibition events
Love Late: Ghosted
A one‑night rendezvous with and for history’s hopeless romantics at The National Archives.
Stories from Love Letters
Record revealed
Jane Austen’s will
Explore Jane Austen's will, in her own handwriting, which shows how the novelist planned to share her belongings with family and friends after her death.
The story of
The Caravan Club
The police raid on a secret queer nightclub in 1933 gives an insight into the lives of gay men in interwar London and their defiance in the face of persecution.
The story of
Anne Lister and Ann Walker's archival legacy
Anne Lister and Ann Walker's romantic relationship defied societal norms of their time, as we can encounter through the archival material they left behind.
Focus on
Queer love and friendship: 1920s Fitzroy Square
Though surveillance documents, we can learn about vibrant gatherings in the 1920s, the people involved and the passionate, intimate letters that survive.