Future King pictured as a young boy at Sandringham
Prince Albert who became King George VI in 1936 and other photographs of members of the Royal Family taken more than a century ago at Sandringham are coming under the hammer. Picture: © Forum Auctions - Credit: Archant
They show a future King at home in his beloved Norfolk, while a hand-written note reveals the loneliness of a boy who was never expected to wear the crown.
George, the Duke of Kent, who died in a plane crash in 1942 is among the photographs taken at Sandringham which are going up for auction. Picture: © Forum Auctions - Credit: Archant
More than a century ago, private tutor Kenneth Fry photographed the young Prince Albert - later George VI - and his brothers at Sandringham.
Away from the public gaze, the boys are seen in the cricket nets, on horseback and enjoying an al-fresco tea at the Norfolk estate.
Fry's collection is expected to fetch more than £800 when it comes up for auction at Battersea, South London, on Wednesday.
Picture of Geroge V and other members of the Royal Family taken more than a century ago at Sandringham are coming under the hammer. Picture: © Forum Auctions - Credit: Archant
It also includes a hand-written letter penned by Albert to Fry in May 1912, on Buckingham Palace headed notepaper.
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'I was so very sorry you left yesterday as I am feeling very lonely up here,' writes the 15-year-old future King and father of Queen Elizabeth II.
As well as showing he experienced loneliness like any other child away from home, the candid note also suggests Albert preferred Sandringham to London like his father, King George V.
A letter from 16-year-old Prince Albert to his tutor Kenneth Fry is coming under the hammer. Picture: © Forum Auctions - Credit: Archant
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Some of the pictures are shot with York Cottage, George V's residence, in the background. He likened it to 'three Merrie England pubs joined together'.
At the time Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII, lived at nearby Sandringham House.
Despite coming bottom in his class as a naval cadet, Albert went on to Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, Devon, before joining HMS Collingwood as a turret officer in the First World War.
In 1920, he became Duke of York and in 1923 married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. The couple had two daughters, the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.
Prince Albert was not first in line to be King after his father died in 1936.
But he acceded to the throne on December 11 that year after his older brother Edward VIII abdicated to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
There were sighs of relief from staff at Sandringham, who had feared that Edward planned to make cutbacks on the Royal estate.
George VI - as he was known after he became King - reigned until his death at Sandringham on February 6, 1952, when he was succeeded by his older daughter Elizabeth, our current Queen.
