If there’s one thing Queen Elizabeth likes as much as the crisp country air and her corgis, it’s going to the ballet.
And this week, extraordinary footage has surfaced in a documentary called Royal Journey, which will be screened on BritBox, showing a young Princess Elizabeth and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, enjoying a glamorous night out during a royal tour of Canada and the United States in 1951.
Like something out of a romantic 1950s movie, the couple are given a standing ovation as they arrive to watch a performance at the Winnipeg Ballet Company in Canada.
A then-Princess Elizabeth, 25, cuts an elegant figure in a sparkling yellow-lace gown, a fur wrap and a glittering diamond tiara. Prince Philip, who was 30 at the time, looked dapper in a tuxedo.
But it’s the old-timey voice over that gives us goosebumps!
Princess Elizabeth, 25, is gifted with a bouquet of flowers as Prince Philip watches on.
In the clip, the narrator proudly explains: “Honestly, when the Princess came in, I have never in all my born days seen anything so lovely. Really, she was gorgeous! That’s the only way for her – absolutely gorgeous.”
In a touching moment, the princess is gifted a bouquet of flowers from a young ballerina.
Just five months after their appearance at the ballet, the royal couple’s life would change forever after the death of Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, in February 1952 with the princess stepping into the role of the ruling monarch at just 25 years old.
In 1966, Queen Elizabeth visits the Theatre Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels during a state visit to Belgium. (Image: Reginald Davis/Rex Features)
It marked the first time a royal tour had been carried out via plane instead of boat.
The Royal Journey documentary was first released in 1952 and follows Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh during their tour of America and Canada.
In the lead up to Trooping the Colour this weekend, BritBox have re-screened it.
Years later and The Queen still loves going to the ballet.
