Does Queen Elizabeth have a knack for sketching portraits? A pair of pencil sketches have recently emerged to suggest that Her Majesty had an impressive artistic skill.
The pencil sketches were of a woman identified as Marion Crawford, who worked as the governess and tutor of then Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret from 1932 to 1947. The drawings were attributed to Her Majesty because they were scribbled on a Royal Coat of Arms-headed paper and found inside a book called "The Scottish National War Memorial."
As per Daily Mail, the book had the signature of Princess Elizabeth written with a blue pen, which meant that she was the owner. Auctioneers from William George & Co. said that it was presumed that the Queen or someone close to her also did the drawings of her governess.
Alex McCormick of the auction house said that the book, which will be up for sale until March 4, was consigned by a private collector who expected to earn at least £3,000 for the memorabilia. Up until recently, the identity of the woman in the sketches was a mystery but royal experts said she looked like the royal governess.
Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret called their governess "Crawfie," who was an educator from Scotland. When she retired in 1948, Queen Mary, the Queen's grandmother, provided Crawfie with a house at the Kensington Palace grounds, which was furnished with antique and floral wallpaper to show the royal family's appreciation her service.
However, Crawfie lost the royal family's favor because she released a tell-all book in 1950 titled "The Little Princesses." It detailed King George's moods and the Queen Mother's chilly relationship with Wallis Simpson, aside from faces about Elizabeth and Margaret.
The Queen Mother wrote to Crawfie to give a conflicting consent about the book's details. In the end, the book did not turn out to be what the royals wanted so they ostracized Crawfie and Queen Elizabeth never spoke to her again. Crawfie died in 1988 in her homeland.
Meanwhile, royal expert Michael Liversidge of Bristol University said that the memorabilia are "a fascinating and intriguing discovery." The embossed Royal arms on the book indicated that it is an authentic piece of history.
Liverside said, however, that he doesn't know if Queen Elizabeth had drawing classes in her younger age. The date of the book suggested that the Queen was six at that time she drew the sketches. Yet given that the drawings were refined, Liverside pegged that Her Majesty might have been actually about 15.
