Rolling around in swamps, paddling in the lake and playing with a corgi, these pictures of a young, carefree Princess Elizabeth look far from the Queen she is so well known today.
In an unseen video released by Buckingham Palace and the BBC ahead of her jubilee next week, the Queen, then 12, strolls with Princess Margaret looking completely uninterested during her summer break at Balmoral in 1938.
As these photos show, the young queen feels completely at home in Balmoral, her summer home in Scotland.
The photos show the princesses playing on the shores of Loch Muek and Glass Alt Shell Waterfall with her father, George VI, as he strolls with the Labrador family.
Balmoral is so close to the Queen’s heart that she named her newest corgi “mweck” (pronounced meek) after the loch in the Scottish estate.
Rolling around in the swamps, paddling in the lake and playing with a corgi, these pictures of a young, carefree Princess Elizabeth look far from the queen who is so famous today.
In an unseen video released by Buckingham Palace and the BBC ahead of next week’s jubilee celebrations, the Queen, then 12, was walking around with Princess Margaret looking completely uninterested during her summer break at Balmoral in 1938.
The footage was taken from a private home movie taken at The Estate.
It will be broadcast on the BBC – to which the Queen has granted unprecedented access to reels – in her documentary Elizabeth: The Invisible Queen, which airs on May 29.
The royal family has filmed each other since the 1920s, but hundreds of these homemade recordings have been kept privately by the royal collection in the cellars of the British Film Institute for decades.
Now it will be shared with the public, giving viewers new insight into the Queen’s life as she celebrates 70 years on the throne.
In a new preview clip released ahead of the documentary this weekend, George VI is seen smiling alongside his daughters Elizabeth and Margaret.
As these photos show, the young queen feels completely at home in Balmoral, her summer home in Scotland.
Balmoral is so close to the Queen’s heart that she named her newest corgi “mweck” (pronounced meek) after the loch in the Scottish estate
The princesses, dressed in beautiful tea dresses with woolen sweaters, happily chat with their father as the camera rolls.
Elsewhere, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was seen soaking up the sun. The playful George VI, in elegant white, steps across the deck before staring into the lens.
His close relationship with his eldest daughter is shown in an impromptu game of throwing and catching.
The Royal Navy sailors got busy with themselves while the camera was shown to them, showing how they kept the ship’s shape for their VIP passengers.
Elizabeth looks young and carefree in the video, smiling under the wide blue sky.
Pictures show the princesses playing on the shores of Loch Moyek and Glass Alt Shell Waterfall with her father George VI strolling with a Labrador family
The documentary traces the Queen’s journey from early childhood, as her mother pushed her in a stroller, to her coronation at just 27 years old in 1953, following the death of her father, George VI in 1952. The photo was taken in 1938
The footage is set to the speeches Her Majesty gave: her Christmas broadcast in 1996 in which she discusses the importance of building relations with other countries, and her speech at Guildhall on June 11, 1947, two months after her return from Africa.
The documentary traces the Queen’s journey from early childhood, as her mother pushed her in a stroller as an infant, to her coronation at just 27 years old in 1953, following the death of her father, George VI, in 1952.
The documentary takes viewers behind the scenes of the Queen’s upbringing and reveals the warmth of her relationship with her parents.
One clip shows a young Elizabeth at the Royal Lodge in Windsor in 1940, flapping in matching dresses as Princess Margaret – and a corgi – and falling backwards into a chair in an apparent joke of George VI.
Loch Muek is said to be one of the Queen’s favorite places on the Balmoral estate and she named it a corgi after the lake
It captures Prince Philip’s first extended visit to Balmoral in 1946 while the couple’s engagement was still private – a beaming Princess Elizabeth showing the camera her engagement ring.
It also shows Princess Elizabeth as a young mother, with the King and Queen as the adoring grandparents of Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
Other rare moments include her grandfather George V (known to the Queen as “Grandfather of England”) sailing with the Queen Mother off the Isle of Wight in 1931, and shots of Princess Elizabeth with her uncle Prince George, Duke of Kent, who tragically passed away. In a 1942 plane crash while on duty – and a touching glimpse into the royal family at Balmoral in 1951, King George VI’s last visit there.
Unlike traditional documentaries that feature interviews and narration, Elizabeth: The Hidden Queen relies largely on the Queen’s private voice and words, along with recording of the news.
The filmmakers heard more than three hundred of the Queen’s speeches over eight decades.
Princess Elizabeth was enjoying a trip on the high seas alongside her father and sister. The footage was captured from a private home movie taken aboard HMS Vanguard, the ship that took the royal family to South Africa in 1947.
The videos show sisters Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in a more relaxed way while on a break in South Africa
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