In LaTeX, how can one add a header/footer in the document class Letter?

Question

In LaTeX, how can one create a document using the Letter documentclass, but with customized headers and footers?

Typically I would use:

\usepackage{fancyhdr}  \pagestyle{fancy} \lhead{\footnotesize \parbox{11cm}{Custom left-head-note} } \lfoot{\footnotesize \parbox{11cm}{\textit{#2}}} \rfoot{\footnotesize Page \thepage\ of \pageref{LastPage}} \renewcommand\headheight{24pt} \renewcommand\footrulewidth{0.4pt} 

However, with \documentclass{letter}, this doesn't work at all. Suggestions are duly appreciated.

EDIT: Here is sample code that doesn't work (for any apparent reason):

\documentclass[12pt]{letter}  \usepackage{fontspec}% font selecting commands  \usepackage{xunicode}% unicode character macros  \usepackage{xltxtra} % some fixes/extras   % page counting, header/footer \usepackage{fancyhdr} \usepackage{lastpage}  \pagestyle{fancy} \lhead{\footnotesize \parbox{11cm}{Draft 1} } \lfoot{\footnotesize \parbox{11cm}{\textit{2}}} \cfoot{} \rhead{\footnotesize 3} \rfoot{\footnotesize Page \thepage\ of \pageref{LastPage}} \renewcommand{\headheight}{24pt} \renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0.4pt}  \begin{document} \name{ Joe Laroo } \signature{ Joe Laroo } \begin{letter}{ To-Address } \renewcommand{\today}{ February 16, 2009 } \opening{ Opening } Content of the letter. \closing{ Yours truly, } \end{letter} \end{document} 

Answer 1

Just before your "Content of the letter" line, add \thispagestyle{fancy} and it should show the headers you defined. (It worked for me.)

Here's the full document that I used to test:

\documentclass[12pt]{letter}  \usepackage{fontspec}% font selecting commands  \usepackage{xunicode}% unicode character macros  \usepackage{xltxtra} % some fixes/extras   % page counting, header/footer \usepackage{fancyhdr} \usepackage{lastpage}  \pagestyle{fancy} \lhead{\footnotesize \parbox{11cm}{Draft 1} } \lfoot{\footnotesize \parbox{11cm}{\textit{2}}} \cfoot{} \rhead{\footnotesize 3} \rfoot{\footnotesize Page \thepage\ of \pageref{LastPage}} \renewcommand{\headheight}{24pt} \renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0.4pt}  \usepackage{lipsum}% provides filler text  \begin{document} \name{ Joe Laroo } \signature{ Joe Laroo } \begin{letter}{ To-Address } \renewcommand{\today}{ February 16, 2009 } \opening{ Opening }  \thispagestyle{fancy}% sets the current page style to 'fancy' -- must occur *after* \opening \lipsum[1-10]% just dumps ten paragraphs of filler text  \closing{ Yours truly, } \end{letter} \end{document} 

The \opening command sets the page style to firstpage or empty, so you have to use \thispagestyle after that command.