Queen Elizabeth's childhood colouring book artwork offered at auction

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 21 Oct, 12:44 · Archive

A colouring book collage made by Queen Elizabeth when she was eight years old is being sold at a Canadian auction house for £6,000. The young princess coloured in outlined figures of the Pied Piper, children, trees and houses using crayons, then cut them out and glued them onto a larger sheet of paper. She signed the work 'The Pied Piper, by Lilibet 1934'. On the back of the frame, the Queen Mother wrote 'Painted by Princess Elizabeth of York, Xmas 1934', having started to write 'Eliz' before crossing it out to use her daughter's formal title instead.

The artwork, measuring 14 inches by 27 inches, was given to James Ryan, a worker for the removals firm Bishop's Move, by an unknown member of the Royal Household in the 1950s. It has since passed into a private collection and is being sold by Waddingtons in Toronto. The auction takes place on 22 October.

Sean Quinn, a specialist at Waddingtons, said the picture was 'a charming reminder that our revered Queen Elizabeth II was once a little girl called Lilibet who liked to colour'. He added that 'Works by Her Majesty are rare, and I have high hopes for it'. Metro reports that childhood doodles by the Queen have occasionally appeared at auction in recent years, commanding high prices.

How it is being reported

• Queen Elizabeth’s childhood colouring book goes under the hammerThe young princess created a scene from The Pied Piper in the charming artwork.Metro · 21 Oct, 12:31
• Queen Elizabeth’s childhood colouring book artwork up for auction for £6,000A collage colouring book created by the late queen when she was just eight years old has gone on sale, 70 years after it was given to a staff member of the Royal HouseholdThe Mirror · 20 Oct, 23:09

In this story: Queen Elizabeth II · Queen Mother · James Ryan · Waddingtons · Bishop's Move · Buckingham Palace · Toronto · Canada

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