Her Majesty's photo album: Meet the little girl who became our Queen
REMARKABLE pictures - some never previously seen - charting Her Majesty's childhood from toddler to teenager, are about to go on show.
When we see the Queen in all her pomp and finery on state occasions it is all too easy to forget that she was once a child like any other, who played games and had favourite toys.
For her sixth birthday in 1932 the people of Wales presented her with a child-sized thatched cottage. It has been loved by every royal generation since and stands in the garden of Royal Lodge, Windsor
Now a new exhibition tells the story of royal children down the ages and perhaps the most fascinating ones are those of our current monarch from a toddler through to her teenage years - most of which have never been seen in public before.
Among the 150 items from royal childhoods also in the exhibition are the wicker pram the Queen pushed her dolls around in and a set of ninepins she played with. For her sixth birthday in 1932 the people of Wales presented her with a child-sized thatched cottage. It has been loved by every royal generation since and stands in the garden of Royal Lodge, Windsor. The tiny kitchen with stove, mangle and Spode china, has been reassembled for the exhibition.
- The Royal Childhood exhibition is at the State Rooms, Buckingham Palace from July 26 to September 28.
- The accompanying book is published by Royal Collection Trust, £9.95 (£12.95 in bookshops), www.royalcollection.org.uk
Angus in August 1935, the Princesses Elizabeth, aged nine, and Margaret, five popped into Mr Shepherd’s bookshop in Castle Street, Forfar, and emerged with their goods wrapped in brown paper and string. Like many of their clothes, their matching dusky pink coats were made by Smith & Co of Sloane Street, Chelsea. Margaret’s had a pale pink collar and cuffs while Elizabeth’s was trimmed with deep pink piping.
The Buckingham Palace Guide Company was formed in 1937 and met on Wednesday evenings in the summer house or the garden or swimming pool. The company members included the children of royal household staff. Guiding activities were suspended in 1939 after the outbreak of war but resumed at Windsor in 1942 when this portrait of Princess Elizabeth was taken.
Taken in August 1932 at St Paul’s Waldenbury, Hertfordshire family seat of their maternal grandparents the Earl and Countess of Strathmore, Elizabeth and Margaret, then aged six and two, are pictured on a rocking horse which had belonged to their mother. The princesses had identical rocking horses at the Royal Lodge, Windsor, which are in the exhibition.
The Duke of York took this picture in 1930 of his wife on the steps of 145 Piccadilly holding newborn second daughter Margaret Rose. Their elder daughter Elizabeth, four, looks on, wrapped in a matching shawl.