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Royal Home Movies Reveal Happy Childhood

Rare footage of the Queen and other members of the Royal family growing up has been released to mark the start of a new exhibition at Buckingham Palace.

The home videos show the earliest footage of a young Princess Elizabeth with her mother as well as footage a few years later of a teenage Princess and her sister, Margaret, dancing on board a ship alongside the Queen Mother and governess Marion Crawford.

In another clip, Prince Philip can be seen riding a tricycle alongside a young Princess Anne on her bike, closely followed by Prince Charles on an orange toy tractor.

The film accompanies 150 other items charting the early years of 25 Royal children in a new exhibition called Royal Childhood which opens at Buckingham Palace on Saturday.

Some of the items on show include Princes William and Harry's personalised nursery chairs and the Queen's childhood cupboard door with the shoes of her first horses nailed into it.

Also among the exhibits are items of clothing like Prince Harry's green outfit worn for Trooping The Colour in 1988 and Prince William's "sailor" page-boy outfit made for the occasion of the Duke and Duchess of Yorks' wedding.

Royal schooling also features with the Duke of Cambridge's geography exercise book displaying a list of animals, perhaps indicating early signs of an interest in conservation and early works from budding nine-year-old artist Prince Charles.

The exhibition begins in the week the Royal family celebrates the first birthday of Prince George.

The one-year-old's toy rocking horse is on display, a present from President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, as well as a "Boris trike", a present from the Mayor of London.

Visitors will also be able to see the lily font used to christen Prince George as well as the easel and birth notice displayed at Buckingham Palace on the day he was born.

A miniature caravan equipped with a sink, tea set, grill, curtains and cushions is among the largest exhibits. It was a gift to Prince Charles and Princess Anne by the Caravan Club.

There is even a scaled-down replica of James Bond's DB5 Aston Martin with designs on a jet-set lifestyle. It was presented to a young Prince Andrew in 1966.