200 year-old French love letters opened for the first time

They never reached the people they were destined to: letters written in the 18th century to French sailors during the Seven Years' War between France and Great Britain have finally been opened, providing both intimate and historical evidence.

Initially considered to be documents of no military interest, these 104 letters were eventually transferred to the British National Archives, where they remained forgotten in a box until they caught the attention of Renaud Morieux, a History Professor at Cambridge University.

"I simply asked to consult this box out of curiosity",  the reacher said. His findings were subsequently published on Tuesday in the academic journal, Annales Histoire Sciences Sociales.

"I realised that I was the first person to read these very personal messages", grouped in three piles and held together by ribbons.

"Their recipients weren't so lucky and it was very moving", he explained, adding that these letters contain "universal human experiences".

Written mainly by women, they bear witness to the experience of wives, mothers and fiancées in wartime, forced to run the household alone and make decisions in the absence of their men.

Renaud Morieux identified each of the 181 members of the frigate Galatée, a quarter of whom had been recipients of these letters, and also conducted genealogical research on the sailors and letter writers.

In 1758 alone, a third of France's sailors were captured by the British. Over the entire period of the Seven Years' War, won by the alliance led by Great Britain and Prussia, 65,000 were detained by the British.

Many died of disease and malnutrition, while others were eventually released.

During this period, letters were the only way their families could try to contact them.

"These