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Charlie Elizabeth Culverhouse

Queen Elizabeth's heartwarming approach to motherhood revealed in rare letter - and the note includes a hilarious joke about young King Charles III

Queen Elizabeth II.

A sweet handwritten letter penned by the late Queen Elizabeth II has gone up for auction and it's details reveal how she felt after giving birth to her second child Princess Anne - and it also proves where the royals get their humour from!

It's oftentimes easy to forget that the royals, while holding prominent positions in the royal line of succession and living seemingly vastly different lives to those not in The Firm, are at their core just people trying to live their lives and navigate the same trials as us all. 

The fact has been highlighted recently by Kate Middleton's shock cancer diagnosis and the fact that her kids Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, nine, and Prince Louis, six, are helping her through her recovery, and, more lightheartedly by the fact that Princess Charlotte is a massive 'Swiftie' like any other nine-year-old girl. 

The case was the same for Queen Elizabeth, especially before she became the monarch, as has been revealed by a sweet letter she wrote back in 1950. 

The letter was sent to the then-Princess Elizabeth's midwife Helen Rowe, whom she affectionately calls Rowie in the writing. Dated 4 October 1950, the letter details how she and Prince Phillip were handling becoming parents of two after welcoming Princess Anne into the world just two month prior. 

She was only 24-years-old at the time but shared with her midwife and friend that she was feeling 'stronger' everyday as she cared for her newborn and a nearly two-year-old then-Prince Charles - who was the butt of a hilarious joke his mother shared with Rowie.  

"We are all getting on very well up here and I am feeling very much stronger already," the royal wrote as per reports in PEOPLE. "Charles is getting fatter as he has an enormous appetite and takes a great deal of exercise. I find it extremely difficult to explain it away when he looks at something he can’t reach and then turns his back meaningly on me and says, 'Mummy, lift!'"

The joke proves that both King Charles, who recently shared a great dad joke during an important speech, and Prince William, whose dad jokes Princess Charlotte 'loves', clearly get their humour from the late Queen. 

Elizabeth's letter continued, "He enjoyed the train journey far more than Anne, who wasn’t too keen on the rattling to begin with, but she has steadily been putting on weight up here and has got lovely pink cheeks after she has been out. The sugar in her foods is gradually going up, and she doesn’t seem to be nearly so ravenous, often sleeping right up to bottle time.

"The children’s grandmother is spoiling her eldest quite openly and will do so with Anne if she got a chance!" she added, giving a sweet insight into the family dynamic. 

In other royal news, while Princess Diana left the bulk of her fortune to sons Prince William and Prince Harry, there’s one thing from her childhood they’ll never inherit and the real heir is surprising. Plus, we reveal the telling sign Prince George is growing into his role as a Royal has been revealed - and share his future career plans that have a sweet nod to his uncle, Prince Harry. Plus, Prince William is keeping Prince George, Charlotte and Louis’ feet on the ground with an important project inspired by Princess Diana.  

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