Wearing trendy flower-power era flares, a colourful ethnic style blouse and a jaunty sunhat – this is the Queen as she's never been seen before. The smiling monarch was posing for a snapshot on a deserted beach during a family cruise in the Seventies.
The only thing to set her apart from an ordinary holidaymaker is the large vessel behind her: the now decommissioned Royal Yacht Britannia aboard which the royals used to take their annual cruise in the Western Isles of Scotland.
Owned by a private collector and currently valued at just £60, the unseen image is part of a set being auctioned off by Colchester auction house Reeman Dansie.
Also on sale are photos belonging to Sidney Cumper, a footman to the current monarch's grandmother, Queen Mary. The shots include Princess Elizabeth, as the sovereign was then, playing with her little sister Margaret.
In another picture a young Prince Philip larks around with his Mountbatten relatives during a trip to Milford Haven, South Wales, during the Forties. One glance at the Duke, who's seen in the middle as the group play a sitting game, and it's clear where his grandson William gets his looks - the resemblance is uncanny.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
