Queen Elizabeth’s childhood colouring book goes under the hammer

A colouring book collage made by the late Queen Elizabeth when she was eight years old has emerged for sale for £6,000.

The young princess created a scene from The Pied Piper in the charming artwork.

She carefully coloured in outline figures of the Piper, children, tree and houses using crayon before cutting them out and glueing them onto a larger sheet of paper.

She signed the framed work ‘Lillibet’. On the back, the Queen Mother wrote ‘Painted by Princess Elizabeth of York, Xmas 1934′.

She had started to write ‘Eliz’ but scratched that out to use her daughter’s formal title instead.

The collage was gifted in the 1950s by an unknown member of the Royal Household to James Ryan, who worked for a company employed by the palace.

It has since passed into a private collection and is being sold in a Canadian auction held by Waddingtons in Toronto.

Waddingtons specialist Sean Quinn said: ‘The picture, done at such a young age, was a gift from a member of the Buckingham Palace household in the 1950s to James Ryan, who worked for a company (Bishop’s Move) frequently employed at the palace.

‘It is a charming reminder that our much revered Queen Elizabeth II was once a little girl called Lilibet who liked to colour.’

He added: ‘Works by Her Majesty are rare, and I have high hopes for it.’

Childhood doodles by the Queen have occasionally appeared at auction in recent years, commanding high prices.

However, she and Princess Margaret were said to be more fond of the performing arts, even putting on Royal pantomimes during World War Two to boost morale.

In later life, the Queen devoted herself to horse racing and her corgis.
However, her son King Charles has enjoyed a lifelong passion for art and is a talented watercolour landscape painter.

One art expert said the Queen was ‘extremely competent’ for her age.
Dominic Shepherd, associate professor at Arts University Bournemouth, said: ‘It does look extremely competent for an eight-year-old.

‘It is a very 1930s aesthetic of the Pied Piper, and she was good at not going over the lines.’

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