Royal performance: Princess Elizabeth (left) and Princess Margaret (right) perform in Aladdin in 1943 at the Royal School, Windsor, at the height of World War Two. The pictures are going up for sale at Dominic Winter auctioneers in Gloucestershire

Royal stars: Princess Elizabeth (right) and Princess Margaret (left) in the play Old Mother Red Riding Boots, 1944, at the Royal School, Windsor

The images - never before made public - show Princess Elizabeth at the age of 15 when she appeared in her first Christmas production in December 1941.

She played Prince Florizel in Cinderella with her younger sister Princess Margaret - then just 11 - in the title role.

The panto was performed in front of a privileged and private audience in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle.

Other photos from the remarkable collection show the two princesses starring in other pantos for the next three Christmasses, all performed at Windsor.

In 1942 the show was Sleeping Beauty with the young Queen playing Prince Salvador and Margaret Fairy Thistledown.

The following year saw a production of Aladdin with Princess Elizabeth in the starring lead and her sister as Princess Roxana.

The final show in 1944 was Old Mother Red Riding Boots with the young Queen as Lady Christina Sherwood and Margaret as the Honourable Lucinda Fairfax.

Photographs of the pantos - signed by the two princesses - have now been made public for the first time. They are being sold as part of an archive collected by a Cyril Woods who was a star pupil at the Royal School in Windsor and acted in the pantos.

The four royal pantos were staged during the war after the future Queen and her younger sister were evacuated from Buckingham Palace at the conflict. The pair stayed at the Royal Lodge, in Windsor, until 1945.



Their parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth stayed in London during the week and returned to them at weekends.

Stage performance: A small group of people can be seen watching Princesses Margaret and Elizabeth on stage during Cinderella in 1941