Buckingham Palace Shared Rare Photos of Queen Elizabeth Before Her Platinum Jubilee

And there will be even more archival footage in the new documentary Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen.

Queen Elizabeth BBC
Photo: Courtesy of BBC

Thanks to a collection of home movies and photo albums, royal fans are going to get a glimpse at Queen Elizabeth that they've never seen before. Ahead of a new BBC documentary, Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen, People shared rare and never-before-seen photos of Queen Elizabeth and the royal family. The has spoken at length about her love of watching old home movies and she reiterates the fun fact in the new doc which is set to air on May 29.

"Like many families, my parents wanted to keep a record of our precious moments together," she said, according to People. "And when it was our turn with our own family we did the same. I always enjoyed capturing family moments."

The BBC notes that it gained "unprecedented" access to the queen and her archives as it prepared for the documentary, which is part of the larger Platinum Jubilee celebration set for June 2022. The event celebrates Queen Elizabeth's 70 years on the throne. In addition to narration by the queen, Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen also features footage of Prince Philip, Princess Margaret, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, and more.

Queen Elizabeth BBC
Courtesy of BBC
Queen Elizabeth BBC
Courtesy of BBC

Charlotte Moore, chief content officer of the BBC, added that the new documentary is an "unparalleled historical record."

The special is a way for the queen to tell the story "of her life as a princess through her own eyes and in her own words from across her reign. It's incredibly moving to see just what her majesty has lived through," Moore adds.

"Private photos can often show the fun behind the formality," the queen says in the documentary. "I expect just about every family has a collection of photographs or films that were once regularly looked at to recall precious moments — but which over time are replaced by newer images and more recent memories. You always hope that future generations will find them interesting and perhaps be surprised that you, too, were young once."

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