Queen Elizabeth As a Young Lady

I have just met a devastatingly attractive young giant who caused my heart to flutter a bit': What our future Queen wrote as a flirtatious and carefree girl of 19

• A window has been opened into the thoughts of young Princess Elizabeth
• The future Queen writes excitedly about dances, weddings and men
• Private letters have been released to celebrate the birth of Prince George
• About 400 items have gone on sale for between £1,750 and £5,750

By Rosie Taylor

With its girlish gossiping about handsome men and parties, it is a classic example of an exchange between young women.

The writer talks of her heart 'fluttering' at the sight of a 'devastatingly attractive young giant' of an officer, and her embarrassment at busybodies listening in on her chat at parties.

But the signature at the bottom, 'Lilibet', gives a clue that it was not written by any ordinary young woman.

Carefree: A series of items, including Royal letters written by a young Princess Elizabeth, have been released. Princess Elizabeth dances with a friend in 1946.�the Princess in a lemon gown, with diamonds in her ears and around her neck, dances with Commander S Either at the Phoenicia Hotel in Malta in 1951

The author was none other than Princess Elizabeth, writing at the tender age of 19 in the months following the end of the Second World War – only seven years before she would become queen.

The carefree tone of the note, to her 'darling' cousin Diana Bowes-Lyon, is in stark contrast to the gravity of the role fate was preparing for Elizabeth.

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Lilibet – then her pet name among the family – writes excitably about dances, weddings and men, saying she has not been 'doing badly in the way of fun' and has been 'greedily' taking opportunities to socialise at Balmoral.

Inner thoughts: The signature at the bottom of the letter 'Lilibet' reveal the identity of its author

She reveals that one of the Royal family's protection officers is 'a devastatingly attractive young giant (with fair hair and blue eyes, of course) from Skye called Roddy Macleod!'

She adds: 'He caused my Margaret's (her sister) heart to flutter a bit, I think (mine too, a bit).'

To her cousin, who was in Germany working with the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry for the Army when Elizabeth wrote the letter in November 1945, she notes that 'you must have fun with all your Generals' and have 'made the acquaintance of a good many of the species'.

The letter, on six sides of Buckingham Palace-headed notepaper, has come to light as part of a sale of about 400 items related to Europe's Royal children, to commemorate the birth of Prince George, called Two Centuries of Royal Children.

Elizabeth also gossips about the wedding between Johnny, 4th Earl of Kimberley and Diana Legh, saying it was 'a tremendous affair'.

'There must have been at least 500 people. It became so packed that one couldn't move without some horrid old lady listening to what one said to every man one met!'

At the time, the young princess had already fallen for Philip, whom she would marry two years later.

But she seemed to still have half an eye on plenty of other young men.

Taking a more serious tone, Elizabeth says that with her cousin in 'a place like Germany, one is grateful for any small thing, and when one thinks of how much one grumbles back here, then we all ought to be ashamed of ourselves'.

She also bemoans the fact her friends keep being posted overseas: 'It's a great pity so many people who one just got to know have all departed for Palestine or Germany, so one has got to begin all over again.'

Sombre: Appearances suggest not all of the young princess' encounters were an emotional roller coaster. Right, pictured with Capt Humphreys at the Dorchester Hotel in 1946. the Princess dances a slow fox trot with Lord Provost Sir Victor Warren in Glasgow

Charming: Left, Princess Elizabeth and her dancing partner Earl Mountbatten of Burma in 1951. Right, Princess Elizabeth dancing with Lord Leveson at the Flower Ball at the Savoy Hotel

The sale also features two earlier letters from an even younger Princess Elizabeth.

One, written after her 10th birthday, tells a friend: 'My pony, Snowball jumps beautifully.'

The third, written when she was just eight, is a birthday note to her 'Darling Grannie', Queen Mary, wife of George V.

The letters and rare photographs are being sold for between £1,750 and £5,750 by Royal manuscripts expert Sophie Dupre, who has featured regularly on the Antiques Roadshow.

The catalogue is available at sophiedupre.com.

Memories: Letters written by the future Queen when she was a 10-year-old have also been released, pictured left in 1936. The Princess' romantic dalliances with hopeful young suitors came to an end in 1947 when she married Prince Philip. Pictured here on her wedding day