Unseen private scenes of a young Queen and Prince Philip larking around in home video footage

8 April 2021, 13:13 | Updated: 12 April 2021, 10:47

Unseen footage of the Queen and Prince Philip relaxing in a home video first aired in a documentary to celebrate Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's 95th birthday in 2021.

Back in 1953, the Queen and Prince Philip were a young recently married couple just like any other.

Previously unseen footage of the pair relaxing in New Zealand on Christmas day just months after the Queen's coronation gives an incredible insight into the monarch's private life.

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Filmed at the home of New Zealand Governor-General at the time, Sir Willoughby Norrie, and shot by his wife Patricia, the never-before-seen footage will be aired tonight (April 8) as part of an ITV documentary exploring the Queen's life.

The couple’s daughter, Sarah Stevenson, remembered it was "terribly exciting" to have the royals at their home over Christmas.

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Sarah remembers Sir Willoughby and his wife Norrie gave Prince Philip and his wife stockings with amusing presents inside.

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The Queen received a dog lead and Philip was given a Wedgwood ashtray his wife’s head on it, which caused great amusement.

The documentary The Queen Unseen also included the first colour footage of the monarch tour in Canada in 1951, when she and Philip took a traditional sleigh ride.

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Other footage showed the Queen's visit with President Tito in Belgrade in 1972, her first ever trip to a communist country and photos of the Queen with a young Prince Andrew at Balmoral in 1960.