Letter from King George V

"This is a letter my great- grandmother received from Buckingham Palace in 1918 when my great-grandfather was released as a prisoner of war in World War I. Private Isaac Byrne served with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the letter opens, ‘The Queen joins me in welcoming you on your release from the miseries and hardships, which you have endured with so much patience and courage.’ These letters were part of the first ever mass communication from a reigning British monarch and this letter was reproduced and distributed to all returning prisoners of war using lithography."