Queen's Platinum Jubilee: Alan Jones discusses plans

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The Queen enjoyed an “incredibly happy childhood”, according to royal author Matthew Dennison. And, acknowledging the role her parents played in her serene upbringing, she thanked them in a letter addressed to the Queen Mother, the expert added.

The poignant letter was penned during Elizabeth’s honeymoon with Prince Philip in 1947.

Mr Mattison told OK! magazine: “She wrote her mother a letter from her honeymoon in which she expressed her sincere thanks and gratitude for being able to have a wonderful childhood.”

In her note, the now-head of state spoke about the “happy atmosphere of love and fairness which Margaret and I have grown up in”.

Mr Mattison also spoke of how “dazzling” the Queen was as a child and how she enchanted the press in the 1930s. 

He said: “It genuinely was an incredibly happy childhood.

“Her parents worked really hard to make it happy but also the Queen as a little girl was completely enchanting.

“She was a very special child.

“We know that in the 1930s if someone was writing about royalty it would all be highly, highly favourable, but the way writers and journalists responded to little Princess Elizabeth went beyond that. 

“This idea that she was as bright as an atom of radium.

“She was a dazzling little creature and people adored her.”

The Queen was born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of York in 1926.

While she has now become Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, the Queen was not born a direct heir to the throne. 

Her father King George VI was initially the Duke of York, as he was the second son of King George V.

However, he became King in December 1936, after King Edward VIII abdicated.

Her Majesty acceded to the throne in February 1952, after the death of her father.

Her mother Elizabeth, who then assumed the title of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, remained at the monarch’s side until 2002.  

Together with Prince Philip and Princess Margaret, the Queen Mother has been part of the close circle of people Her Majesty trusted, according to Mr Dennison.

The author wrote in his upcoming book: “In her long role as Monarch, the Queen has probably trusted fully just three people: her mother, her sister and her husband, a trio to whom she was closer than any of her children or friends.

“After the deaths of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret in 2002, Philip was the sole remaining member of that group.

“With his loss, the Monarch is arguably more alone than at any time in her long life.” 

Prince Philip died on April 9 of old age, according to his death certificate.

While his passing has surely been a terrible blow for the Queen, Mr Dennison believes she will “cope” and carry on in her role.

He said: “She will do so using the simple instinct she has honed over many decades: that she was born into a role which leaves her no alternative; a role which history itself has bestowed upon her and from which there is no shirking.

“She will cope precisely through her understanding that her role is everything and supersedes all else in her life – even the most profound of personal tragedies.”   

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