The Buckingham Palace rats became target practise for the Queen Mother during the Second World War, it has been revealed.

The late Queen Elizabeth was reportedly taught to shoot a pistol in the grounds of the palace in case of a raid by Nazi parachutists.

The Queen's cousin, Margaret Rhodes, 89, revealed how the royal used the vermin to perfect her aim, as she lifted the lid on life growing up with Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.

The Queen Mother, pictured taking part in rifle shooting in 1947, first learned to shoot a pistol in the grounds of Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace, pictured on VE Day, was bombed nine times during the Second World War

'Queen Elizabeth did learn how to shoot a pistol in the gardens of Buckingham Palace,' she told the BBC.

'I suppose quite rightly, she thought if parachutists came down and whisked them away somewhere, she could at least take a parachutist or two with her.'

Mrs Rhodes spoke to the BBC as part of there Greatest Generation series, which marks the 70th anniversary of VE Day.

She recalled how King George VI insisted that her cousins lived by the same rations as the rest of the country, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The former lady in waiting to the Queen, also remembered how colour coded messages were delivered to the royal family by their head page in moments of danger.

The Queen's cousin Margaret Rhodes, 89, recalled her Aunt perfecting her shooting aim on the Palace rats

During the conflict the Palace suffered nine direct bomb hits and one death - PC Steve Robertson, a policeman on duty there who was killed by flying debris in 1941.

After one raid in September 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain, the Queen Mother wrote of the 'horrible' bombing of her home by the German Luftwaffe.

Referring to Buckingham Palace as 'dear old BP', the Queen Mother wrote: 'We heard the unmistakable whirr-whirr of a German plane.

'We said 'ah a German', and before anything else could be said, there was the noise of aircraft diving at great speed, and then the scream of a bomb.

'It all happened so quickly, that we had only time to look foolishly at each other, when the scream hurtled past us, and exploded with a tremendous crash in the quadrangle.'

The Queen Mother went on to describe how she and the King had to duck down 'like lightening' [sic] into a corridor, keeping away from the windows through fear of flying broken glass, before calmly going to an air-raid shelter.

On her way to safety, she recounted to her mother-in-law - whom she fondly addresses as 'darling Mama' - she saw housemaids giving first aid to three workmen injured in the Luftwaffe attack.

The letter ends with a PS saying: 'Dear old B.P is still standing and that is the main thing.'

When victory in Europe was announced by Sir Winston Churchill on the 8th May 1945, Mrs Rhodes took to the streets to celebrate with the Queen, then 19, and Princess Margaret, who was 14.

'The whole thing was so exciting,' she remembers. 'We were all so excited that the war was over so just being part of this huge celebration - you imbibed the excitement of it all.'

'It was like a wonderful escape for the girls,' she continues. 'I don't think they'd ever been out and walked among millions of people like that. It was just freedom to be an ordinary person. '