Jackie O's heartfelt letter to Ethel Kennedy after both women were widowed by assassinations

Although the pair got off to a rocky start, Ethel Kennedy and former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy bonded through the tragedy of losing their husbands in the most devastating of ways.

On Thursday the family of Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy , announced she died at 96 after suffering a stroke. The Kennedy matriarch lived an extraordinary life marred by tragedy, most notably the death of her husband.

She was by Robert F. Kennedy's side when he was fatally shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, just after winning the Democratic presidential primary in California. Just hours later, on June 6, 1968, Jackie Kennedy, who had lost her husband, President John F. Kennedy, to assassination less than five years before, wrote a heartfelt letter to the recent widow, affectionately addressing her as "My Ethel."

• Robert F Kennedy Jr probed over claims he decapitated a whale with a chainsaw before taking it home

• Robert F Kennedy Jr admits he dumped dead bear cub in New York's Central Park

It read: "My Ethel – No one in the world could have ever been like you were yesterday — except maybe Bobby – We are going home now — Your phone was busy You don't want any more callers you must be so tired — I stayed up till 6:30 last night just thinking — and praying for you — and for you in the months ahead — I love you so much — You know that anything — Stas will take little Bobby to Africa — I'll take them around the world + to the moon + back — anything to help you + them now and always — With my deepest deepest love Jackie"

An FBI investigation was launched after the note went missing for a few years. As of 2011, it remains in the hands of the FBI, according to The Dallas Morning News. It is well known now that Ethel and JFK's wife, then Jacqueline Bouvier, did not hit it off right away when they met in 1953, PEOPLE reported in 2018.

Ethel had invited her brother-in-law, then Sen. Jack Kennedy, and his new girlfriend to her formal St. Patrick's Day party. Jackie made her grand entrance from a Rolls Royce in a black gown like all the other female guests, but Ethel opted for shimmering emerald-green gown that upstaged everyone.

Allegedly miffed, Jackie left early, complaining of a "dreadful headache," according to PEOPLE. But the women would eventually go on to marry the Kennedy brothers, bonding them for life. The two women got along on the surface level, but their relationship was very strained due to different ideals, according to New York Magazine .