Queen Elizabeth II only regret as monarch laid bare

Queen Elizabeth II seemingly only ever regretted one moment during her reign as a monarch of Britain.

Her Majesty, who passed away in 2022, always regretted not acting swiftly during the terrible incident of Aberfan.

Royal biographer Gyles Brandreth his thoughts, who spoke to Lord Charteris over her regrets, writes in his book Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait: “He said, immediately, ‘Aberfan. She got that wrong and she knows it.’”

Brandreth wrote: "The scale of the tragedy called for an immediate response, but she is not a spontaneous person and she is not given to emotional gestures."

"After she had spent a few minutes alone at the remains of the school, it was the only time I saw her cry in public," journalist Brian Hoey added at the time.

A red chalk portrait of young Queen Elizabeth II is anticipated to bring between £2,000 and $2,700 at auction later this week.

The late Queen had sat for Hungarian artist Philip de László back in 1933. At that time she was known as Princess Elizabeth of York. The sketch was used as a preparation work for an oil portrait which is currently part of the Royal Collection. The work is going to be sold in Chelsea, London, on October 22.

However, at the same time, yet another item related to royal childhood memories is heading to auction. A colouring book picture assembled by Elizabeth II in her childhood years can be purchased for £6,000 at auction at Waddington's, Toronto, Canada.

Princess Elizabeth assembled the scene from The Pied Piper at the age of eight with the use of crayons and scissors. She painted figures of the Pied Piper and children, coloured houses and trees, and then glued everything onto a larger sheet of paper. On it, the girl wrote 'Lilibet ', while on the other side of the picture her mother wrote: "Painted by Princess Elizabeth of York, Xmas 1934".