The future Queen Elizabeth takes to the stage: Extraordinary collection of pictures emerge of young Princess starring in DIY royal plays during WW2
- Queen performed alongside Princess Margaret in Cinderella in 1941 in Windsor, Berkshire
- They performed in Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin and Old Mother Red Riding Boots in the following years
- Photos from the private Royal pantos were taken by Cyril Woods, who was star pupil at the Royal School in Windsor
- He had a lasting friendship with the Queen and worked for the Crown Estate Office before his death in 2001
- Gallery of photos are expected to fetch £16,000 when they are sold at auction
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The images - never before made public - show Princess Elizabeth at the age of 15 when she appeared in her first Christmas production in December 1941.
She played Prince Florizel in Cinderella with her younger sister Princess Margaret - then just 11 - in the title role.
Royal performance: Princess Elizabeth (left) and Princess Margaret
(right) perform in Aladdin in 1943 at the Royal School, Windsor, at the
height of World War Two. The pictures are going up for sale at Dominic
Winter auctioneers in Gloucestershire
Royal stars: Princess Elizabeth (right) and
Princess Margaret (left) in the play Old Mother Red Riding Boots, 1944,
at the Royal School, Windsor
The panto was performed in front of a privileged and private audience in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle.Other photos from the remarkable collection show the two princesses starring in other pantos for the next three Christmasses, all performed at Windsor.
In 1942 the show was Sleeping Beauty with the young Queen playing Prince Salvador and Margaret Fairy Thistledown.
The following year saw a production of Aladdin with Princess Elizabeth in the starring lead and her sister as Princess Roxana.
The final show in 1944 was Old Mother Red Riding Boots with the young Queen as Lady Christina Sherwood and Margaret as the Honourable Lucinda Fairfax.
Photographs of the pantos - signed by the two princesses - have now been made public for the first time. They are being sold as part of an archive collected by a Cyril Woods who was a star pupil at the Royal School in Windsor and acted in the pantos.
The four royal pantos were staged during the war after the future Queen and her younger sister were evacuated from Buckingham Palace at the conflict. The pair stayed at the Royal Lodge, in Windsor, until 1945.
Their parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth stayed in London during the week and returned to them at weekends.
Stage performance: A small group of people
can be seen watching Princesses Margaret and Elizabeth on stage during
Cinderella in 1941
Royal show stars: Princess Margaret and Cyril
Woods, who put together the album, perform in the play Old Mother Red
Riding Boots, together in 1944 (left). On the right, Princess Margaret
(far left) and Princess Elizabeth perform in the play Aladdin in 1943.
Cyril worked for the Crown Estate office but died in 2001
Royal performances: Scripts from the Sleeping Beauty and Aladdin which were kept by Hubert Tanner from the days of World War Two
Christmas panto: The Queen in Cinderella in 1941
where she played Price Florizel, and Princess Margaret played
Cinderella (left). A signed programme from Old Mother Red Riding Boots
in 1944 can also be seen (right)
Royal show: Princess Margaret (left) and Princess Elizabeth (right) perform in Cindarella in 1941 at the Royal School, Windsor
Portrait pictures: A very young Princess
Elizabeth (left) and Princess Margaret (right) in these two small
portrait pictures from 1941
Young stars: Princess Margaret (middle) and
Princess Elizabeth (right) perform on stage outside a mock castle in
Windsor. The photos are expected to fetch £16,000 when they are
auctioned
The idea to stage a panto came after
the two young princesses appeared in a concert with children from the
Royal School to aid the war effort.Funds from the show went towards the Royal Household Wool Fund which provided comforts for the troops.
It was Princess Margaret who first suggested a panto and school head Hubert Tannar was invited to write the script and produce the first show in December 1941.
Cyril Woods, who never married, was of similar age to the princesses and was recruited as star pupil at the school to appear with them.
He took part in all four pantos, which were all written and produced by Mr. Tannar who also acted in the first and last ones.
It is notable that the future Queen took a male part in three of the four productions, while her younger sister always got a female role.
1941 performance: Princess Margaret (right) and Princess Elizabeth (middle) in the play Cinderella at the Royal School, Windsor
Young friend: Princess Margaret and Cyril Woods
in Cinderella in 1941. Cyril formed a lifelong friendship with the
Royals and worked for the Crown Estate. He died in 2001
Royal show: Princess Margaret (right) and
Princess Elizabeth (left) performing in the play Cindarella in 1941 at
the Royal School in Windsor
1941 cast: Princess Margaret (centre left) and
Princess Elizabeth (centre right) in the play Cinderella. It was the
first of four plays they performed in
Mr Tannar died shortly after the war
in 1948 but Princess Elizabeth kept up a warm correspondence with his
widow Ethel until she died in 1975.Mrs Tannar then left her collection of letters and other memorabilia to Mr. Woods who became officer manager in the Crown Estate Office at Windsor.
In 1990 The Queen asked Mr Woods to write his memoirs of 'The Royal Pantomimes' and a copy of his work is now in the Royal Archives.
He struck up a lasting friendship with the Queen and worked for the Crown Estate office before his death in 2001.
His collection, which includes almost 60 pictures, is expected to fetch around £16,000 when they go under the hammer at Dominic Winter's Gloucestershire auction next week.
Senior valuer Chris Albury said: 'This has to be the biggest collection of such photographs to ever be discovered and put up for sale.
Dancing Queen: Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret perform in Cinderella in 1941 at the Royal School, Windsor
Young stars: Princess Margaret (left) and Princess Elizabeth (right) in the play Cinderella in 1941
Showtime: A signed photograph of Princess
Margaret and Princess Elizabeth in the play Aladdin (left) and a copy
of the programme from the pre-Christmas performance in 1943 (right)
Stage show: Princess Margaret (left) and
Princess Elizabeth (right) with the Queen Mother on the set of the play
Cinderella, in 1941
Third royal performance: Pricesses Margaret and Elizabeth in the 1943 play Aladdin in Windsor, Berkshire
Royal show: Princess Elizabeth (centre) is seen performing in Aladdin in 1943
Star role: Princess Elizabeth (right) in the
play Aladdin, 1943, at the Royal School, Windsor, from the combined
archive of Mr and Mrs Hubert Tannar and Cyril Woods
Young royals: Princess Margaret and Princess
Elizabeth (left) in the play Cinderella, 1941, at the Royal School, Windsor
(left). The Queen Mother can be seen standing near Princess Margaret
(right) on the set
Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in the
play Aladdin, 1943, at the Royal School, Windsor, from the combined
archive of Mr and Mrs Hubert Tannar and Cyril Woods
Memorabilia: A signed picture of Princess Margaret (left) and Princess Elizabeth (right) from the play Aladdin in 1943
Cast: Princess Margaret (centre left) and Princess Elizabeth (centre right) with the case from the play Cinderella
Centre stage: Princess Margaret (right) and Princess Elizabeth (left) in the play Aladdin
Royal show: Princess Margaret and Elizabeth (middle) are again seen on stage during the wartime performance of Aladdin
Stage show: Princess Margaret (right) and Princess Elizabeth (centre) are seen in another photo from Aladdin
Royal performance: An old telegram and cuttings from newspapers from the performance of Aladdin in 1943
A signed photograph of Princess Margaret (right)
and Princess Elizabeth (second from right) in the play Aladdin, 1943,
at the Royal School, Windsor
Royal show: Princess Margaret (centre right) and
Princess Elizabeth (centre left) in the play Aladdin at the Royal
Windsor School in 1943
Archives: A signed photo of the Queen (left) and
Princess Margaret from the album which will be sold off at Dominic
Winter auctioneers, South Cerney, Gloucestershire
Motherly advice: The Queen Mother (left) can be
seen talking to princess Margaret who is on stage. The young Princess
Elizabeth is stood directly behind her sister in this picture taken in
1941
Cast: A photo of everyone involved in the play Aladdin, in 1943, at the Royal School, Windsor
Christmas panto: A young Princess Elizabeth
(left) stars in the play Cinderella in 1941 at the Royal School,
Windsor. The pictures are going up for sale at Dominic Winter
auctioneers in Gloucestershire
Royal performance: Princess Margaret (right) and
Princess Elizabeth (middle) are seen in the play Aladdin (on the left).
Princess Margaret is seen (left) in the play Cinderella, in 1941, at the
Royal School, Windsor
'I doubt that many of these photos are known or have ever been published. They have never been shown publicly. One assumes the Queen knew of it but Cyril didn't show it off.'
The photographs were bequeathed to two life-long friends of Mr Woods after his death and they kept them in an old suitcase in a wardrobe.
The hoard also includes personal letters from the Queen that Cyril inherited from Hubert Tanner, headmaster at the Royal School.
Royal performance: Princess Margaret and
Princess Elizabeth (left) in the play Cinderella, 1941, at the Royal
School, Windsor. Princess Margaret (right) can be seen in the the play
Old Mother Red Riding Boots the following year
One letter to his Mr Tanner's wife in
September 1950 thanks her for a letter congratulating the young Queen on
the arrival of Princess Anne.Her Majesty wrote: 'Her brother seems very fascinated by her. It seems very strange to actually talk about "children"!'
Another letter to Cyril documents the fire at Windsor Castle in 1992 thanking him for helping remove things from the burning building.
Mr Albury added: 'The Queen really takes the time to write these very personal letters, often including more detail and words than you would expect.
'You can see real friendship and it is impossible not to find them touching.'
* The auction takes place at Dominic Winter, Gloucestershire, on December 11.
Stage star: Princess Margaret can be seen in the play Old Mother Red Riding Boots in 1944 at the Royal School, Windsor
Portrait: The case from the play Old Mother Red Riding Boots in 1944 which includes Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth
Performance: Princess Elizabeth (middle) and Princess Margaret (right) in the play Old Mother Red Riding Boots
Royal show: Princess Margaret (right) can be seen in the play Old Mother Red Riding Boots in Windsor, Berkshire, in 1944
Flashbacks: Albums from Aladdin and Sleeping
Beauty kept by Cyril Woods from the plays in 1943 and 1944 during the
height of World War II
Later performance: Princess Elizabeth (middle)
and Princess Margaret (right) in the play Old Mother Red Riding Boots,
1944, at the Royal School, Windsor
Performing princess: Princess Margaret (right) in the play Old Mother Red Riding Boots, in 1944
Leading roles: Princess Elizabeth (middle left)
and Princess Margaret (middle right) in the play Old Mother Red Riding
Boots, 1944, at the Royal School, Windsor, which was the last of their
four annual performances
Young star: Princess Elizabeth in the play Old
Mother Red Riding Boots, 1944, at the Royal School, Windsor (left), and
in a signed photo from the performance (right)
Princess Elizabeth (middle) and Princess
Margaret (left) in the play Old Mother Red Riding Boots, 1944, at the
Royal School, Windsor
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