Queen's home movies that made Wills and Harry gasp (4)

Perhaps the most poignant tribute, however, comes from her cousin, Margaret Rhodes, who fights tears as she says of the Queen’s much adored late father, George VI: ‘I hope you know how proud the King would be of you if he was able to tell you. Because I think you have carried out your duties as Queen as to be beyond belief.’

In her early years on the throne, the Queen wanted her own record of her visits to foreign lands, and a stylish gold Rollei camera was never out of reach.

Later Prince Andrew, who inherited his mother’s love of photography, encouraged her to try a more sophisticated Leica to which she became especially attached. She found the lightweight camera ideal at snapping pictures of Prince Philip carriage driving.

Alfresco: Princess Elizabeth enjoys a tea party with her mother, father and sister Margaret in the sunken garden at Windsor. Today she still loves dining outside — even if it’s not sunny

Royal brew: Elizabeth and Margaret drink from large cups in the film, and a watching Charles says his frugal mother still uses the same crockery today

Seeing herself with her parents, the Queen reminisces: ‘My father is reading the newspaper for some mysterious reason.’ George VI is also seen entertaining the family by donning a comedy beard

Barrow boys: They’re supposed to be helping to clear leaves at Buckingham Palace, but as these mid-Sixties pictures show, Andrew, left, and Edward hid in the wheelbarrow, with Edward, as Charles says, ‘busily sucking his thumb’. The Queen recalls: ‘That’s rather good that. We were allowed to rake the leaves.’

Grandpa was such a stud! Philip and Charles are relaxing in the garden. Harry says: ‘Look how good-looking Grandpa is there! He’s an absolute stud! Those glasses, slicked back hair . . .’

Also looking like a Hollywood star is Princess Margaret (pictured) on the Royal Yacht Britannia

Mum looked lovely in blue: Baby Harry gazes at Diana at his private christening party in 1984 at Windsor Castle. The Prince today looks fondly at footage of his late mother. ‘Mummy looks great in blue [but] I’m still not convinced about the dress I’m in!’

And William and Harry laugh about their cousin Peter Phillips’s shock of blonde hair as he stands with the Queen and the Queen Mother

But away from the public eye, the Queen would be just at home looking through the viewfinder of her Super 8 cine camera torecord the everyday lives ofher children.

Taking pictures and shooting film has become as much a part of her life as planting trees and shaking hands.

The home movies she has shot span the generations.

And, as Charles says, they offer a wonderful insight into the Queen’s long life.