Queen’s photos found in attic show off-duty life of the Royals

LONDON - A number of never-before-seen candid photographs of the British Royal family that had been stashed away in an attic have been released.

Of the 40 photos that were handed over to the Queen, seven got her blessings to be published.

Many of the photos, which date back over a 40-year period, capture family members relaxing at Balmoral and Windsor.

One shows the Queen stirring tea in a plastic picnic cup, and another shows Philip gazing wistfully over fields, while another shows him with his youngest son Edward.

Another showed a carefree Sarah Ferguson grinning beside Diana and ex Andrew at a Windsor Castle bash.

Princess Margaret is also shown attending a banquet with the Queen Mother in one of the pictures, while another shows Fergie with an infant Prince William on a pony at Windsor stables.

The images were discovered by an unnamed person at the home of a deceased relative, who worked at a photo lab, which handled the Royals’ snaps.

“We think the relative used to take an extra set of prints home as a matter of course to study them for quality control purposes,” the Sun quoted him as saying.

“We are delighted that the Queen and other royals are glad to have them back and hopefully they will revive many happy memories,” he stated.

A senior Buckingham Palace spokeswoman added: “The Queen was interested to see the photographs handed in by The Sun and had no objection to them being published in the newspaper.” (ANI)