Queen pictured as never before in ‘unseen’ photos released for new TV documentary

The images offer an insight into the Queen’s young life

(ITV)

Photos of the Queen released alongside a new royal documentary show the head of state as many will never have seen her before.

ITV series The Queen Unseen will show viewers informal and never-before-seen images of the monarch, along with home movies.

The first episode will be broadcast on Thursday 1 April to mark the Queen’s 95th birthday.

One of the images released ahead of the programme shows the Queen at 25 on a sleigh ride with Prince Philip during a tour of Canada in 1951.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on a sleigh ride (ITV)

Another shows the monarch in 1953 holding a Cine camera on Christmas Day during an official tour in New Zealand.

The Queen in New Zealand on Christmas Day 1953 (ITV)

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The new documentary will show the Queen not just as a royal but on holiday, as a mother, wife, cook, animal lover, farmer, and expert horsewoman.

In another recent documentary about the Queen, a royal author spoke about the 94-year-old’s relationship with her son, the Prince of Wales.

Clive Irving claimed the monarch is more "openly affectionate" to her younger son Prince Andrew than to Charles.

The Queen on a 1951 tour of Canada (ITV)

Irving, author of new biography The Last Queen, has claimed that Charles will "never live up" to the Queen’s "sense of duty".

Speaking on Channel 4 documentary Queen Elizabeth: Love, Honour and Crown, which aired on Sunday, Irving said the Queen is "puzzled" by the Prince of Wales and had "never really understood" him.

The Queen in 1992 at Windsor with a cow called Elizabeth (ITV)

Irving said: “The Queen’s constantly frustrated with Charles, she’s never really understood him, she’s puzzled by him.

"And that’s why she’s, to this day, more openly affectionate to Andrew and more forgiving toward Andrew than she is towards Charles."

Discussing the Queen’s "very dedicated sense of duty", he said: "All those around the Queen never measure up to that at any point. Her own family has not measured up to that. Charles never measures up to that."

Majesty magazine’s editor-in-chief Ingrid Seward also appeared in the programme, and claimed Charles is “the polar opposite to younger brother Andrew”.

She said: “He’s [Andrew] noisy, bumptious, very charming, when he wants to be. He can be arrogant and rude; he has some characteristics of his own father.”