Take a Look at Never-Before-Seen Photographs of a Young Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip
Candid photographs of the Queen and Prince Philip relaxing on holiday have emerged for the first time to be sold at auction. The never-before-seen images, owned by author Daphne du Maurier, are believed to have been taken in the 1940s and 1950s.
Unsurprisingly, they are sure to please royal fans, with black and white photographs depicting the young couple enjoying sandwiches cross-legged on a picnic blanket or taking in the views aboard a luxury yacht.
A large number of the images were taken on the Balmoral estate while one photograph shows Prince Charles and Princess Anne playing on the Royal Yacht Britannia.
The images were taken by Daphne du Maurier's husband, Lieutenant General Sir Frederick ‘Boy’ Browning, who was a close friend of Lord Mountbatten (the Duke of Edinburgh's uncle) during World War II. He served Princess Elizabeth's household before taking charge of Prince Philip's when his wife became Queen in 1952.
The photographs are being sold at Rowley's auction house on April 27 alongside 300 lots of personal correspondence, manuscripts and personal effects relating to du Maurier. Among the archive material is a letter written by the British author shortly after the Queen and Prince Philip visited her and her husband in Cornwall back in 1962.
On Her Majesty's arrival, she wrote, "The Queen inside, radiant, all in white. I don’t know what was talked about, I heard sounds coming from my mouth I didn’t recognise! She was very nice though…"
Auctioneer, Roddy Lloyd of Rowley's, said: "These particular images, which show the royal family in an off-guard, relaxed mood highlight the circles in which du Maurier and Boy moved."
"The black and white photographs record the Queen and Prince Philip in a rarely seen informal setting," he continued."I particularly love the photograph of the Queen Mother standing in a tartan skirt with a corgi behind her; her character shines through - it’s enchanting."
The auction will take place on April 27 and further information can be found on the website here.
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