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A copy of the playwrights's second folio, annotated by both Charles I and George III, is among the family heirlooms that will go on show from Saturday in an exhibition for visitors to the 89-year-old monarch's favourite royal residence.

Among the other treasures is a drawing of Romeo and Juliet by the future Queen Victoria when she was 15, and a colourfully bound copy of The Merry Wives of Windsor presented to Queen Mary in 1917.

The exhibition, Shakespeare in the Royal Library, features books, maps, prints, and works of art showing how generations of monarchs since Elizabeth I have enjoyed the work of Britain's greatest dramatist.

One of the highlights is the annotated copy of the Bard's second folio, the 1632 collection of his plays. Charles I probably read it while he was imprisoned at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight for 14 months before his execution in 1649.