Unseen photographs of a young Princess Diana have revealed a sweet link to her future daughter-in-law. A private snap, among 22 incredible unseen pictures, shows a smiling Diana on holiday at Balmoral months after giving birth to Prince William.
Other precious photos set to be auctioned next month include Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris at the age of 36 in 1997, lovingly cuddling her newborn. However, in one beautiful shot, Diana poses against the spectacular landscape of Balmoral, the royal family's Scottish home, holding what appears to be a camera, reports the Mirror.
It seems that, like her eldest son's wife Kate Middleton, she had an interest in photography. Kate, who sadly never got to meet her husband's mother before her tragic death, is known for her photography skills. The Princess of Wales, 41, is often credited with taking the portraits of her children that are released on birthdays and other special occassions.
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It was claimed by royal author Katie Nicholl that the late Queen allowed Kate to bring her camera and take pictures at Balmoral and the surrounding dramatic landscape on her first visit there, knowing how much she loved photography. In her book, Kate: The Future Queen, she writes: "Until now the Queen had met Kate only fleetingly at the wedding of Peter and Autumn Phillips, but she went out of her way to make her feel welcome, giving her permission to take pictures at Balmoral."
A collection of 22 unseen snaps taken at Balmoral during a visit by British Airways businessman Baron King, who was a friend of the Royal Family, are being prepared for sale at Willingham Auctions in Cambridgeshire. Experts are predicting they will be sold for tens of thousands.
Stephen Drake from the auctioneers said: "There were lots of photos taken of Diana but these offer a really personal insight. The collection of photos is a real one-off, you will never come across another set of photos like this.
"The photo of Charles holding William is such an amazing photo, he looks like such a proud happy father. In the photos, Diana, Charles and William look like a complete family group. You see a lot of press photos but these are nothing like those, they are being photographed as normal people, which for royalty is an amazing experience to see.
"As auctioneers, we are only custodians of our items for a short amount of time and it’s very exciting to have them here. It really is causing a huge amount of interest.
"The sky is the limit on the price. We have never had anything like this before. "Plenty of pictures have been sold of Princess Diana before, but nothing as relaxed as this and nothing as early in her marriage.
"The collection of photos come with the negatives so whoever buys it will own the copyright and that is the premium. There are also no other copies of these photos out there, these are the only ones."
Stephen added: "We’ll see what happens on the day, we have high hopes." The photos, which come complete with the original negatives and folder, will be auctioned at Willingham Auctions in Cambridgeshire on March 4 at 10am.
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