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Queen's letter detailing first meetings with Philip sells for £14k

The two page note was sent to author Better Shew who was writing a book on the royal couple.

A rare handwritten letter by the Queen describing her courtship with the Duke of Edinburgh has sold for £14,400 at auction.

The two-page account details the early stages of the relationship to author Betty Shew, who was writing a book on the upcoming Royal Wedding as a souvenir of their marriage.

It was sold to a private collector from the UK at a sale in Chippenham - and far exceeded the £800-£1200 estimate.

In it, the young Elizabeth recounts how the pair met when she was just 13 at the the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth:

"I was 13 years of age and he was 18 and a cadet just due to leave. He joined the Navy at the outbreak of war, and I only saw him very occasionally when he was on leave - I suppose about twice in three years.

"Then when his uncle and aunt, Lord and Lady Mountbatten, were away he spent various weekends away with us at Windsor. Then he went to the Pacific and Far East for two years as everyone there will know...

"We both love dancing - we have danced at Ciro's and Quaglino's as well at parties.

"We first started seeing more of each other when Philip went for a two-year job to the R.N Petty Officers School at Corsham - before that we hardly knew each other.

"He'd spend weekends with us, and when the school was closed he spent six weeks at Balmoral - it was great luck his getting a short job first them! Elizabeth"

– Letter from the Queen describing her courtship with the Duke of Edinburgh
It sold for much higher than the predicted £1,200