In 1598, an eight-year-old Anne Clifford composed a letter to her father George, requesting his blessing and assuring him of her daughterly duty. Although brief, the letter was written on beautifully decorated paper with a border of colourful flowers, clearly indicating that it was an elaborate offering rather than a casual note. She wrote:

The tone of this letter is difficult to determine. The formality of addressing her father as ‘your Lordship’ follows early modern protocols of respect between aristocratic children and their parents, and it could indicate either a coldly official relationship or warm daughterly affection. It could be the writing of a girl going through the motions of pleasing an adult, or it could be the genuine expression of a passionate child. My own initial reaction to the letter was that it gives us very little insight into the child Anne's subjectivity, but I had to rethink my perspective when I came across a brochure for a June 2012 embroidery retreat in honour of Lady Anne Clifford where the internationally renowned needleworkers Phillipa Turnbull, Jane Nicholas, OAM, and Meredith Willett offered to teach students the techniques necessary to reproduce designs from early modern Britain, including one inspired by the flowers on Anne's letter to her father.