The Queen Unseen: ITV special will show viewers the woman behind the ‘mask’ of royalty

Documentary airs on ITV tonight

The Queen Unseen features archival footage and photos of the monarch (ITV)

Viewers are being treated to a new look at Queen Elizabeth II’s life in one-off documentary The Queen Unseen.

Airing on ITV on Thursday (8 April), the documentary will focus on Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1983, showing previously unseen footage of the monarch away from royal duties ahead of her 95th birthday later this month.

This includes footage of the Queen and Prince Philip at Christmas in 1953, the year she was crowned.

The video was captured by Patricia Norrie, the wife of New Zealand’s then-governor general Sir Willoughby Norrie, with whom the royal couple stayed during their seven-month Commonwealth tour.

Viewers will learn more about the Queen from the people who know her best, with the special including exclusive interviews and stories from friends and colleagues.

Prince Philip and the Queen on their royal tour of Canada in 1951 (ITV)

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These include the Norrie family’s daughter, who was 10 years old when the royal couple visited.

There is also footage of the Queen meeting Yugoslav dictator Marshal Tito during her first visit to a communist country in 1972.

ITV says that The Queen Unseen represents the “wife, mother, animal lover, cook, farmer and comedian” as well as the monarch, “lifting the mask royalty brings to show who she really is”.

The documentary will allow viewers to “learn more about the hidden private Elizabeth Windsor, who has sacrificed so much for crown and duty and discover how she has coped with increasing public demands to reveal every aspect of her private self”.

The Queen Unseen airs tonight at 9pm on ITV.