Get you up to speed: Queen Elizabeth’s childhood colouring book goes under the hammer | News UK
A colouring book collage made by the late Queen Elizabeth II at the age of eight is currently for sale for £6,000 in a Canadian auction hosted by Waddingtons in Toronto. The artwork was given as a gift in the 1950s by an unknown member of the Royal Household to James Ryan, who worked for a company frequently employed by the palace.
The colouring book collage created by the late Queen Elizabeth is part of a Canadian auction hosted by Waddingtons in Toronto. The piece, which features her signature “Lillibet,” has previously passed through private collections since being gifted in the 1950s from a member of the Royal Household to James Ryan, an employee of a palace-contracted company.
A colouring book collage created by the late Queen Elizabeth when she was eight years old is currently for sale at a Canadian auction for £6,000, with Waddingtons specialist Sean Quinn anticipating strong interest due to the rarity of such works. The artwork, given to a former employee of the Royal Household, is described as a charming reminder of Elizabeth’s childhood, and it remains to be seen how much it will ultimately fetch at auction.
What remains unclear — The current whereabouts of the collage after it has passed into a private collection are not specified.
Colouring book by young Queen Elizabeth I set to be auctioned for £6,000
The young princess created a scene from The Pied Piper in 1934 (Picture: Waddingtons)
A colouring book collage made by the late Queen Elizabeth when she was eight years old has emerged for sale for £6,000.
The young princess created a scene from The Pied Piper in the charming artwork.
She carefully coloured in outline figures of the Piper, children, tree and houses using crayon before cutting them out and glueing them onto a larger sheet of paper.
She signed the framed work ‘Lillibet’. On the back, the Queen Mother wrote ‘Painted by Princess Elizabeth of York, Xmas 1934′.
She had started to write ‘Eliz’ but scratched that out to use her daughter’s formal title instead.
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The Queen Mother labelled the colouring (Picture: Waddingtons)
The collage was gifted in the 1950s by an unknown member of the Royal Household to James Ryan, who worked for a company employed by the palace.
It has since passed into a private collection and is being sold in a Canadian auction held by Waddingtons in Toronto.
Waddingtons specialist Sean Quinn said: ‘The picture, done at such a young age, was a gift from a member of the Buckingham Palace household in the 1950s to James Ryan, who worked for a company (Bishop’s Move) frequently employed at the palace.
‘It is a charming reminder that our much revered Queen Elizabeth II was once a little girl called Lilibet who liked to colour.’
He added: ‘Works by Her Majesty are rare, and I have high hopes for it.’
Childhood doodles by the Queen have occasionally appeared at auction in recent years, commanding high prices.
However, she and Princess Margaret were said to be more fond of the performing arts, even putting on Royal pantomimes during World War Two to boost morale.
In later life, the Queen devoted herself to horse racing and her corgis.
However, her son King Charles has enjoyed a lifelong passion for art and is a talented watercolour landscape painter.
One art expert said the Queen was ‘extremely competent’ for her age.
Dominic Shepherd, associate professor at Arts University Bournemouth, said: ‘It does look extremely competent for an eight-year-old.
‘It is a very 1930s aesthetic of the Pied Piper, and she was good at not going over the lines.’
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