Photos of Queen as baby released to mark 84th birthday

Some of the prints will be displayed at Windsor Castle

Photographs from the Queen's first portrait sitting have been released to mark her 84th birthday.

The images are of Princess Elizabeth, aged seven months, posing for cameraman Marcus Adams in 1926.

Some of the prints will be displayed at an exhibition at Windsor Castle from Saturday until February next year.

The Queen will be spending the day at the castle for her birthday and the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery will provide a 41-gun salute in London.

In the photographs Her Majesty is pictured barefoot in a white dress and separately with her parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, later George VI and Queen Elizabeth, on 2 December 1926.

Two of the images became prized possessions of the Queen Mother and were kept in a double-frame leather picture case.

Two teeth

One shows the seven-month-old looking into the camera, in the other she smiles while being held by her mother.

The pictures are thought not to have been seen in public for many years.

When Princess Elizabeth's parents went on a six-month tour of Australia and New Zealand, she remained behind and was taken to Mr Adams' studio in January 1927 for another photo session.

She was captured playing with a pair of Victorian glasses in some of the pictures and handling photographs of her parents in another.

A note written by Clara Knight, the princess's nurse, which was sent to the overseas King and Queen, was published for the first time and can be seen at the new exhibition.

The short letter accompanied a picture of the young Elizabeth which showed her laughing with her mouth open.

It said: "If mummy looks into my wide open mouth with a little magnifying glass she will see my two teeth."

A few days after the royal couple returned to Britain, in June 1927, they visited Mr Adams' studio in central London with their daughter for more photographs which are included in both the exhibition and his new book.